HONOLULU (KHON2) -- The parent company for three local supermarket chains confirmed an issue with their computer systems, a story that KHON2 investigated earlier this week.
Shoppers at Times Supermarket, Don Quijote and Marukai told KHON2 they couldn't use debit cards to pay for their groceries, only cash.
In a statement, Pan Pacific Retail Management Hawaii, the store's parent company, said it recently identified evidence of suspicious activity on certain systems. In response, they took immediate steps to secure the network and launch an investigation.
The company did not specify which systems were affected or if any employee or customer information was breached.
Cyber security experts said attacks against companies are becoming more common
"Unfortunately, you and I are sometimes not the biggest targets -- they're after the big fish," said Attila Seress, Cypac Deep Cybersecurity CEO. "Big fish are those long lists of credit card numbers, databases that might have credit card numbers and transactions and perhaps some more private information such as your date of birth, your blood type, social security number, that kind of stuff. Those are the big goldmine opportunities for the bad guys."
Seress gave some tips just in case something happens. First, check your credit card statement. Make sure there aren't any unknown charges.
"And of course, when in doubt, always double-check your credit score," said Seress. "There's lots of free services that can do credit monitoring, things like Capital One, any major credit card. They will have the option to do free credit checks and free credit monitoring."
Seress suggested using a credit card for shopping because there are better protections for consumers. When using a debit card, keep the account balance low.
Besides the payment problems, customers at the stores also noticed weekly sales on their websites weren't being updated.
Locations at all three stores remained open. Pan Pacific said as of Friday morning, operational capacity has been restored to the pharmacy and said it appreciates their customers' patience and will provide further updates as appropriate.