MalwareRetail & ConsumerRetailCustomer Data InvolvedData ExfiltratedFinancial accountHighContained

MICHAELS STORES, INC.

bd_a12900c0b9c4d4bd · schema v1 · pii pii-v1

Severity

High

Discovered

Jan 25, 2014

Filed

Jan 27, 2014

To disclose

2 days

Affected

3,000,000

Linked

2 filings

Confidence

65%

Full breach record for MICHAELS STORES, INC. →

Michaels Stores, Inc. confirmed that its U.S. point-of-sale systems and those of subsidiary Aaron Brothers were attacked by criminals using sophisticated malware between May 2013 and February 2014. Approximately 3 million payment cards (2.6 million Michaels, 400,000 Aaron Brothers) may have been impacted, exposing card numbers and expiration dates. The incident was contained by April 2014. The company offered 12 months of identity protection and credit monitoring to affected customers.

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California clockDiscovered Jan 25, 2014 → Notified Apr 17, 201482d ✗ CA 60-day late2 days discovery → filing

Incident timeline

undetected · 262 days

discovery → filing · 2 days

May 8, 2013

Begins

Jan 25, 2014

Discovered

Jan 27, 2014

Filed

vs. sector median

7 wks faster

This filing is one of 2 about the same incident.View merged incident

Linked disclosures

Why this link?

Regulatory filings (1) · sorted by filing gap

New Hampshire State AGbd_57e078010e175fe82014-04-18 · +81dVerified

Name: MICHAELS STORES, INC.
norm: michaels stores
Domain: michaels.com
Industry: Retail

Name: MICHAELS STORES, INC.
norm: michaels stores
Domain: michaels.com
Industry: Retail
Industry: Retail & Consumerllm

Discovered: Jan 25, 2014
Breach occurred: May 8, 2013 – Feb 27, 2014
Undetected for: 262 daysoccurrence → discovery
Materiality determined: —
Notification sent: Apr 17, 2014
Affected individuals: 3,000,000nationwide
Data types: Financial account
Attack vector: Unknown
MITRE ATT&CK: T1486 Data Encrypted for ImpactT1041 Exfiltration Over C2 Channel
Threat actor: ExternalFinancial
Regulator citations: Working closely with federal law enforcementNotified relevant regulators

During the incident: Working closely with federal law enforcement
Conducting an investigation with the help of third-party data security experts
Retained two independent, expert security firms to conduct an extensive investigation
Coordinating with banks and payment processors to determine the facts
Provided data about potentially affected payment cards to the relevant card brands
Offering identity protection and credit monitoring services to affected customers at no cost
Offering fraud assistance service for 12 months at no cost
Changes made: Identified and fully contained the incident
Ensured malware no longer presents a threat to customers
Source: Quoted from the filing itself, not independently verified.

Time to disclose: 2 days(2 days from discovery to filing)
Compliance flags: CA 60-day late · 82d
Discovery-date grounding: letter-groundedThe discovery date is the detection date narrated in the notification letter — the defensible tier.
Clock breakdown: Statute Window Elapsed Threshold Status
California
Discovered: Jan 25, 2014
→ Notified: Apr 17, 2014
82d 60 days (analyst band, pre-2026 discoveries) CA 60-day late

Statute	Window	Elapsed	Threshold	Status
California	Discovered: Jan 25, 2014 → Notified: Apr 17, 2014	82d	60 days (analyst band, pre-2026 discoveries)	CA 60-day late

Status: No extraction artifact recorded for this disclosure.

Filing propagation · 2 filings · 2 states

View merged incident ↗

California State AGJan 27 · first · this page

New Hampshire State AG+81d

Pattern: first filing Jan 27 (CA), last Apr 18 (NH) — a 81-day rolling notification. Rolling spreads often mean counsel is filing as thresholds trip per state. Why this link?

Evidence ladder

Leak-site claim

Attacker assertion only. Establishes: claim date, group, alleged victim.

Press / market report

Unlocks: incident narrative, operational impact. Still no compliance clock.

State AG / regulator filingThis record

Unlocks: discovery date, data types, affected count, compliance clock.

SEC 8-K / victim statement

Unlocks: materiality, stated response, full audit trail. Ceiling removed.

Source URL: https://oag.ca.gov/ecrime/databreach/reports/sb24-43887
DisclosureLens links to the originating regulator URL — full filing bodies are not redistributed from public surfaces (§4.5).
Filed at: Jan 27, 2014
Raw hash: 7206d83a084c29bbfd65ba8113de4a672668895f944c37ab817221348140b4ce

Linked disclosures

Regulatory filings (1) · sorted by filing gap

Reporting entityMICHAELS STORES, INC.

Victim entityMICHAELS STORES, INC.

Incidentdiscovered Jan 25, 2014

Stated responseWorking closely with federal law enforcement

ComplianceCA 60-day late

Extraction provenanceno artifact recorded

Source provenanceoag.ca.gov