Forever 21 suffers major data heist

Clothing chain Forever 21 has become the latest data theft victim

Clothing chain Forever 21 has become the latest organisation to suffer a major data loss.

The company said in a bulletin that its systems had been breached, and that credit card details for some 98,000 customers may have been stolen.

Only customers who shopped at the stores on certain dates in March, June and July 2004 and August 2007 are considered to be at risk, as are customers of the Forever 21 store in Fresno, California.

The company is advising users who may be at risk to monitor their accounts for possible fraud.

The attackers are believed to have obtained credit card numbers and expiration dates only. No customer names or addresses are believed to have been stolen.

Forever 21 said that the theft was part of a larger attack that included 12 other retailers. Security experts believe that the attackers may have been part of the same group that caused the huge TJX data thefts.

"One of the things that is interesting in this case is that it appears to be linked to the charges being brought against 11 men who allegedly hacked into other major retail companies and stole more than 40 million credit and debit card numbers," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, in a blog posting.

"Companies affected in that heist included the likes of Barnes & Noble, OfficeMax and TJX."