Woolworths Group confirms MyDeal data breach

Woolworths Group has confirmed that millions of customers of its MyDeal subsidiary have been exposed to a major corporate data breach.

The retail giant said a compromised user credential was used to gain unauthorised access to its Customer Relatioship Management (CRM) system, resulting in the exposure of approximately 2.2 million customers.

MyDeal is in the process of contacting affected customers by email.

Data compromised includes customer names, email addresses, phone numbers, delivery addresses, and in some instances, dates of birth.

In the case of 1.2 million customers, only their email addresses were exposed.

MyDeal CEO Sean Senvirtne apologised for the considerable concern that the event would impact affected customers.

“We have acted quickly to identify and mitigate unauthorised access and have increased the monitoring of networks,” Senvirtne said.

“MyDeal will continue to work with relevant authorities as we investigate the incident and will keep our customers fully informed of any further updates impacting them,” he said.

Both Woolworths Group and MyDeal have also started working with relevant regulatory authorities and government agencies.

“Woolworths Group’s cyber security and privacy teams are fully engaged and working closely with MyDeal to support the response,” said Woolworths Group Chief Security Officer Pieter van der Merwe.

MyDeal does not store payment, drivers licence or passport details and no customer account passwords or payment details have been compromised in the technology breach.

Woolworths said the customer data was accessed within the MyDeal CRM system and the Mydeal.com.au website and app have not been impacted.

The news comes after Woolworths Group’s acquisition of approximately 80 per cent of MyDeal.com.au on 23 September 2022.

The MyDeal.com.au data network and CRM system is operated on a completely separate platform to Woolworths Group.

Woolworths Group said there has been no compromise of any other Woolworths Group platforms or the Woolworths Group customer or Everyday Rewards records.

Founded in 2011 by Sean Senvirtne, MyDeal is an online retail marketplace that connects online shoppers with local retailers.

Source: Woolworths Group media release