Costco Pushes Back Relaunch Of Online Photo Services Another Month Following July Hack
Fans of Costco’s photo services will likely be waiting another month before they are able to order pictures though its website, as the company that manages the site continues to recover from a July breach.
For the third time since online photo service management company PNI Digital Media was hacked – resulting in the temporary closure of photo sites operated by several retailers – Costco has pushed back its timeline for getting its program up and running again — this time to early September. Photo services continue to be available in-store.
The retailer said last month that it would have its photo site back online in early August, then pushed it to mid-August, GeekWire reports.
“We’ve made significant progress towards re-enabling the Photo Center site; however, there’s additional work to be done before it’s ready to go live. We know the previous anticipated dates have come and gone, but we’re doing everything we can to bring a safe & secure site back online as soon as possible,” the company said in a statement to customers.
Back in July, PNI Digital Media – which is owned by Staples – announced it was the latest victim of a hack, with several retailers in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. temporarily shutting down their photo sites.
Staples acknowledged that PNI was investigating a potential credit card data issue, but didn’t specify which retailers were affected.
Still, retailers – including Sam’s Club, CVS, Rite Aid and Tesco – quickly took action to shut down their online photo sites after being notified by Canadian-based PNI of the possible breach or after hearing reports from other retailers.
At the time, Costco and Rite Aid said they made the decision to halt online photo operations out of an abundance of caution, as PNI has limited access to customer information since credit cards are not processed.
CVS and Walmart Canada – which took similar action two weeks before the official announcement – advised customers to monitor their credit card transactions for any unauthorized charges.
A check of the retailers’ photo sites shows that none have returned to service.
Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.
