WINSLOW -- The Web site of Johnny's Selected
seeds has been hacked by an intruder, resulting in the theft of thousands of private records and credit card numbers, a company official said Friday.
Bruce Harrington, the company's director of sales and marketing, said 11,500 credit card accounts were stolen electronically in February.
"This is a violation, this is a criminal act and it's on us," Harrington said. "We are a victim here; it wasn't like we had credit card information ready for the taking."
He said the FBI was immediately notified and the case is under investigation.
Todd Difede of the FBI's Portland office said it is not bureau practice to discuss criminal cases before the cases are adjudicated.
Of the total number of accounts that were breached, about 20 of the credit cards were used fraudulently, Harrington said.
He said the last known Internet Service Provider to register action involving the Johnny's case was somewhere in the United Kingdom.
Harrington said the security system was hacked in a very sophisticated, methodical way..........
