E-commerce platform provider Shopify on Tuesday said two members of its support staff were caught accessing customer information without authorization.
According to Shopify, the two employees used their permissions to access customer transactional records from some merchants. The company says less than 200 merchants are impacted by the incident and they have all been notified.
The exposed merchant customer data included name, email address, physical address, and order details (e.g. products and services purchased), but payment card or other financial information were not impacted.
The rogue employees have been terminated and law enforcement has launched an investigation.
“We are currently working with the FBI and other international agencies in their investigation of these criminal acts. While we do not have evidence of the data being utilized, we are in the early stages of the investigation and will be updating affected merchants as relevant,” Shopify said.
The company pointed out that this insider threat incident did not involve exploitation of a vulnerability in its platform.
“Our teams have been in close communication with affected merchants to help them navigate this issue and address any of their concerns. We don’t take these events lightly at Shopify. We have zero tolerance for platform abuse and will take action to preserve the confidence of our community and the integrity of our product,” the company said.
Incidents like this are not unheard of. Last year, Trend Micro said an employee sold the personal information of roughly 100,000 customers to tech support scammers.
