If you made a purchase at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo gift store in the past four months, you’d better check your credit card statement.
The Colorado Springs zoo’s gift store was among an unspecified number of zoos nationwide affected by a data-security breach on credit-card systems managed by Denver’s Service Systems Associates, which provides services to about .
“It is important to note that only the third-party gift shop was affected by this breach,” said Erica Meyer, a spokesperson for the Cheyenne Mountain zoo. “Transactions at SSA’s concession stands and restaurants were not affected. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s internal processing systems for admissions, donations and memberships were also not affected.”
Service Systems Associates, which discovered the breach in late June, posted It said the breach occurred at the point-of-sale systems “of several of our clients” between March 23 to June 25 this year. If you used a credit and debit card at the stores, your information might be compromised, it said.
The company said it is working with the Secret Service and FBI and hired forensic investigator . The malware that caused the breach has been removed.
The company would not identify which zoos or gift stores were breached but “identified fewer than a dozen affected sites,” said CEO Timothy L. Brantley.
SSA is working to notify zoo customers.
The Detroit Zoo and Houston Zoo have confirmed they also .
Service Systems Associates works with gift stores inside several attractions and offers a full-service packages from building store interiors to stocking them and managing them.
Colorado clients History Colorado Center, National Western Stock Show and the Denver Zoo said their store systems showed no evidence of the malware. Another SSA client, Royal Gorge Bridge & Park in Cañon City, did not respond to questions about it.
Affected customers can e-mail SSA for more details at CreditInvestigation@kmssa.com.
Service Systems Associates also suggests potential victims should contact one of the three consumer agencies to put an alert on their account. Details are posted at . Those include:
• TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289; ; Fraud Victim Assistance Division, P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92834-6790
• Equifax: 1-800-525-6285; ; P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
• Experian: 1-888-EXPERIAN (397-3742); ; P.O. Box 9554, Allen, TX 75013
Tamara Chuang: 303-954-1209, tchuang@denverpost.com or twitter.com/Gadgetress
