The IT Nerd

This is really getting stupid. And it illustrates the incompetence of Loblaws.

For the third time, there are reports that members of Loblaws PC Optimum rewards program are reporting that they are having points swiped. Here’s an example via the CBC:

After getting hit by points theft multiple times, some PC Optimum members are questioning a fix Loblaws says it has made to improve the security of its rewards program. 

“I do not believe they have fixed anything,” said Shawn Nicholson in Halifax. On Wednesday, a thief infiltrated his PC Optimum online account for the third time in less than a month, this time stealing 150,000 points — worth $150.

“I’m beyond the point of frustration,” he said.

Loblaws says that they have fixed the password issue that they found the last time their rewards system got pwned by hackers. But that clearly doesn’t seem to be the case as this keeps happening, or they have deeper security issues that they aren’t telling anyone about. Keep in mind that this system has been pwned multiple times both in its PC Optimum incarnation and its PC Points incarnation. Which means that the system is clearly not secure, which is something I said a few weeks ago.

Now the cops are on the case to track down the people behind this, but let’s get real here. Loblaws clearly cannot fix this and make their rewards system secure. If I were them, I’d bring in a top shelf security company like Manidant to figure out how this is happening and how to fix it. And I’d be public about it. Because I have zero confidence in Loblaws being able to keep the points of their members secure. And I am sure that this is true for other members of the PC Optimum rewards program.

Time to find a new grocery retailer with a rewards program that is actually secure. Because clearly Loblaws isn’t smart enough to figure out how to do that.

This entry was posted on April 22, 2018 at 6:54 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Loblaws. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.