--- description: Suspicious cyber activity, spotted in September, was most likely a malware attack that may have breached 1.16 million credit cards. title: Staples Estimates Hackers Breached 1.16 Million Credit Cards image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Retail](/tag/retail/) ## Retail Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Staples Estimates Hackers Breached 1.16 Million Credit Cards by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 20, 2014 8:40 PM CUT by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 20, 2014 8:40 PM CUT Staples confirmed on Friday that suspicious cyber activity, first spotted in September, was most likely a malware attack that may have breached 1.16 million credit cards. A preliminary investigation found evidence of malware installed in the point-of-sales systems at 115 locations. The malware may have given hackers access to cardholder names, credit card numbers and verification codes. The breaches began in late summer and continued until the retailer detected and removed the malware in mid-September. The company said that affected customers could request free identity protection services and would not be held liable for fraudulent charges. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3643064/staples-estimates-hackers-breached-1-16-million-credit-cards/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3643064/staples-estimates-hackers-breached-1-16-million-credit-cards/"},"headline":"Staples Estimates Hackers Breached 1.16 Million Credit Cards","datePublished":"2014-12-20T20:40:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:02:24.493Z","description":"Internal investigation finds traces of malware infecting sales systems at up to 115 locations","url":"https://time.com/3643064/staples-estimates-hackers-breached-1-16-million-credit-cards/","keywords":["Retail","credit cards","staples","Hack"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/retail/","name":"Retail"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3643064/staples-estimates-hackers-breached-1-16-million-credit-cards/","name":"Staples Estimates Hackers Breached 1.16 Million Credit Cards"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch: Here Are the World's Five Cybercrime Hotspots","description":"More cyber criminals are entering into the game at a quicker pace than quite honestly we can keep up with","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/S9ZS5zEF/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-08-07T12:13:47.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/S9ZS5zEF.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3643064/staples-estimates-hackers-breached-1-16-million-credit-cards/","duration":"PT1M15S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3643064/staples-estimates-hackers-breached-1-16-million-credit-cards/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```