A crisis is brewing at Shopify Inc. (TSX:SHOP)
The company has announced that two employees stole data from more than 100 merchants, exposing the personal information of consumers who shopped on web stores that use Shopify’s e-commerce software.
"Rogue members" of Shopify’s support team stole customer transactional records from some of the merchants, the company said in a blog post that said fewer than 200 sellers were impacted.
Customer transaction records from some of the merchants were obtained by hackers on September 15.
Shopify said it terminated the two employees’ access to its network and the company is working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other international agencies that are investigating what it called "criminal acts."
The hacked stores may have had customer data exposed, including emails, names, addresses and order details, the company said. Complete payment card numbers or other sensitive personal or financial information were not part of the incident, Shopify said.
Shopify sells subscription software to help merchants run online stores. The Ottawa-based company has had a dizzying rise since going public in 2015. The coronavirus pandemic has boosted growth even more as lockdowns pushed more retailers online.
Shopify is currently the most valuable publicly traded Canadian company. Shopify shares fell more than 1% in extended trading on news of the employee theft.
