News

Music Web Site: Breach Exposed Accounts

Credit card data on Bananas.com music and gear Web site compromised, with several victims coming forward.

(San Francisco) A musical instrument and sound gear Web site that advertises its relationship with artists such as Dave Matthews, Carlos Santana and Mary J. Blige notified some customers that their credit card information may have been stolen.

The warning, which came more than a month after someone broke into Bananas.com, was delivered Wednesday after The Associated Press inquired about the breach. The San Rafael-based company said none of its celebrity clients was among the 274 people notified.

Web site operators still are trying to determine how the intruder gained access. Following the discovery, administrators changed passwords and added other safeguards to restrict unauthorized access to the system, Bananas.com owner J.D. Sharp said.

The breach was discovered after an individual identified only by the screen name SmookeR advertised in an Internet chat room the sale of compromised credit card information. In late February, SmookeR released the names, addresses, phone numbers and credit card numbers of at least 31 people who had recently placed orders at the company.

"I'm a little stunned I'm the victim of something you read about a lot but don't expect to have happen to me," said Patrick Klein, 42, a musician living in Queens, N.Y. He said he received a call from the bank that issued his credit card asking if he authorized charges that originated in France.

Dan Clements, chief executive of CardCops, a company that helps shield consumers from identity theft, said he e-mailed evidence of the intrusion to an employee at Bananas.com on March 1 but never got a response.

The employee was on vacation and never got the messages, Sharp said.

Featured

  • Microsoft Appoints Althoff as New CEO for Commercial Business

    Microsoft CEO and chairman Satya Nadella on Wednesday announced the promotion of Judson Althoff to CEO of the company's commercial business, presenting the move as a response to the dramatic industrywide shifts caused by AI.

  • Broadcom Revamps VMware Partner Program Again

    Broadcom recently announced a significant update regarding its VMware Cloud Service Provider (VCSP) program, coinciding with the release of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0, a key component in Broadcom’s private cloud strategy.

  • Closeup of the new Copilot keyboard key

    Microsoft Updates Copilot To Add Context-Sensitive Agents to Teams, SharePoint

    Microsoft has rolled out a new public preview for collaborative "always on" agents in Microsoft 365 Copilot, bringing enhanced, context-aware tools into Teams channels, meetings, SharePoint sites, Planner workstreams and Viva Engage communities.

  • Windows 365 Cloud Apps Now Available for Public Preview

    Microsoft announced this week that Windows 365 Cloud Apps are now available for public preview. This aims to allow IT administrators to stream individual Windows applications from the cloud, removing the need to assign Cloud PCs to every user.