- Joined
- Apr 13, 2004
- Messages
- 16,985
Not terribly happy with BHQ right now.
Lots of missteps lately at BHQ. 
Essentially, if you did business with them Jan 7 - Mar 22 of this year (2021), or on April 11, 2021, your credit card information may have been stolen, to include the CVV numbers. It is highly recommended to get a new card!!! I've already contacted my CC company.
I received this email from them about 30 minutes ago:
April 21, 2021
Dear XXXXXXXXX,
We value your business and respect the privacy of your information, which is why, as a precautionary measure, we are writing to let you know about a data security incident on the Blade HQ website that may involve your personal information. Although we are unaware of any actual misuse of your information, we are providing notice to you and other potentially affected customers about the incident, and about tools you can use to protect yourself against possible fraud.
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What happened?
An unknown, unauthorized intruder or intruders appears to have gained access to our hosted website servers and uploaded malware to our website www.bladehq.com, potentially gaining the capacity to “skim” customer transaction data as it was being entered by the customers purchasing or attempting to purchase our merchandise. Our investigation indicates that the intruders may have had this “skimming” capability from January 7, 2021 through March 22, 2021 and on April 11, 2021. The attackers may have gained access to customer transaction information if the customer entered new or updated information at the site during that time. Because you entered or changed your card information or personal information at bladehq.com during the suspected period of intrusion, we are notifying you about this security incident.
You may wonder why you are hearing about the incident now. When we first became aware of potentially unusual activity on our website in late March, we immediately hired cybersecurity experts and forensic investigators to assist in our investigation. Applicable legal requirements and best practices require that we conduct a complete investigation and cooperate and follow the required protocols of applicable governmental authorities—in certain jurisdictions we are also required by law to ensure that certain additional steps be followed before notifying customers. Now that those steps and requirements have been completed and our investigation concluded, we are reaching out to you.
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What information was involved?
In the cases mentioned above, information that the intruder may have had access to includes your first and last name, address, email address, and any debit or credit card numbers with expiration dates and CVV codes that you may have entered on our website.
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What we are doing.
Blade HQ values your privacy and deeply regrets that this incident occurred. We have retained the services of a qualified cybersecurity forensic investigation firm to contain the breach, conduct a thorough review of the intrusion, and to ensure the security of the website now and in the future. The intruder’s access and malware have been removed from our website, and we have deployed new servers and implemented additional security measures to prevent a recurrence of such an attack and to protect the privacy of our valued customers. We are also working closely with major credit card suppliers and governmental authorities, to ensure that the incident is properly addressed.
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What you can do.
Please also review the attachment to this letter for further information on steps you can take to protect your information.
For More Information.
For further information and assistance, please call our response center at (855) 723-1664 Monday through Friday from the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Central Standard Time, excluding major US holidays.
We sincerely apologize for this inconvenience and are grateful for our relationship with you. Thank you for your support of Blade HQ.
Sincerely,
Mark Christensen
CEO, Blade HQ
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Essentially, if you did business with them Jan 7 - Mar 22 of this year (2021), or on April 11, 2021, your credit card information may have been stolen, to include the CVV numbers. It is highly recommended to get a new card!!! I've already contacted my CC company.
I received this email from them about 30 minutes ago:
April 21, 2021
Dear XXXXXXXXX,
We value your business and respect the privacy of your information, which is why, as a precautionary measure, we are writing to let you know about a data security incident on the Blade HQ website that may involve your personal information. Although we are unaware of any actual misuse of your information, we are providing notice to you and other potentially affected customers about the incident, and about tools you can use to protect yourself against possible fraud.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What happened?
An unknown, unauthorized intruder or intruders appears to have gained access to our hosted website servers and uploaded malware to our website www.bladehq.com, potentially gaining the capacity to “skim” customer transaction data as it was being entered by the customers purchasing or attempting to purchase our merchandise. Our investigation indicates that the intruders may have had this “skimming” capability from January 7, 2021 through March 22, 2021 and on April 11, 2021. The attackers may have gained access to customer transaction information if the customer entered new or updated information at the site during that time. Because you entered or changed your card information or personal information at bladehq.com during the suspected period of intrusion, we are notifying you about this security incident.
You may wonder why you are hearing about the incident now. When we first became aware of potentially unusual activity on our website in late March, we immediately hired cybersecurity experts and forensic investigators to assist in our investigation. Applicable legal requirements and best practices require that we conduct a complete investigation and cooperate and follow the required protocols of applicable governmental authorities—in certain jurisdictions we are also required by law to ensure that certain additional steps be followed before notifying customers. Now that those steps and requirements have been completed and our investigation concluded, we are reaching out to you.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What information was involved?
In the cases mentioned above, information that the intruder may have had access to includes your first and last name, address, email address, and any debit or credit card numbers with expiration dates and CVV codes that you may have entered on our website.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What we are doing.
Blade HQ values your privacy and deeply regrets that this incident occurred. We have retained the services of a qualified cybersecurity forensic investigation firm to contain the breach, conduct a thorough review of the intrusion, and to ensure the security of the website now and in the future. The intruder’s access and malware have been removed from our website, and we have deployed new servers and implemented additional security measures to prevent a recurrence of such an attack and to protect the privacy of our valued customers. We are also working closely with major credit card suppliers and governmental authorities, to ensure that the incident is properly addressed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What you can do.
Please also review the attachment to this letter for further information on steps you can take to protect your information.
For More Information.
For further information and assistance, please call our response center at (855) 723-1664 Monday through Friday from the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Central Standard Time, excluding major US holidays.
We sincerely apologize for this inconvenience and are grateful for our relationship with you. Thank you for your support of Blade HQ.
Sincerely,
Mark Christensen
CEO, Blade HQ
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