Epsilon Suffers Data Breach, Millions of Email Addresses at Risk

Data Breach Costs Hit $7.2 Million and Show No Sign of Leveling Off

Report finds compliance pressures and cyber attacks drive companies to respond more quickly and incur higher costs.

Millions of live email addresses have been compromised following a security breach at marketing email services provider Epsilon. CNET News says Epsilon manages email communications for TiVo, JP Morgan Chase, Capital One Financial, US Bank and the Kroger grocery chain, among others.

On March 30, Epsilon, which sends 40 billion emails annually, says it detected an "unauthorized entry" into its system, exposing customer names and email addresses. The Wall Street Journal reports that no financial information was compromised, but there is a risk that the names and emails could be used for phishing attacks.

Citing an ongoing investigation, Epsilon spokeswoman Jessica Simon declined to say exactly how many companies might be affected, according to Bloomberg.

If you subscribe to e-mail marketing from any of these brands, never fear-you're in no danger as long as you keep an eye out for e-mail from senders you don't know, and don't send any sensitive information (such as credit card or banking info) to "companies" via e-mail. It's also a good idea not to open any attachments unless you personally know who's sending you the e-mail and what the attachment is.