Wawa data breach: How you can protect yourself

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Wawa is being sued one week after announcing a massive data breach affecting likely all of its locations. Pennsylvania-based Wawa Inc. said last week that its information security team discovered malware on its payment processing servers on Dec. 10 and stopped the breach on Dec 12.The company believes the malware was collecting card numbers, customer names and other data as early as March 4.At least two lawsuits have been filed in wake of the breach.One lawsuit, which is seeking class-action status, was filed by Chimicles Schwartz Kriner on behalf of Tabitha Hans-Arroyo of Woodbury Heights, New Jersey.The suit obtained by Action News claims that Wawa "did not value customer data security and privacy" and they failed to protect its customers' sensitive card information.Wawa said it doesn't yet know how many customers were affected. Wawa said it's also unaware of any unauthorized use of credit cards as a result of the breach.The suit claims that Tabitha Hans-Arroyo's Capital One credit card was recently used online at Walmart in the amount of $2535.15. But the purchase was declined due to lack of available credit.Hans-Arroyo used the same card at various Wawa locations almost daily during the data breach window, the lawsuit says.After being notified on Tuesday, Hans-Arroyo says a Capital One representative told her that her credit card was compromised in the Wawa breach after she called about the unauthorized access. She says she was never directly contacted by Wawa.Ronnie Kaufman, who is being represented by Kohn, Swift & Graf, P.C., also filed a lawsuit last week against Wawa alleging that a credit card she used at a Wawa gas station in Parkland, Florida became compromised.Wawa is providing potentially impacted customers with one year of identity theft protection and credit monitoring at no charge.Wawa has also established resources to answer customers' questions, including a dedicated call center that can be reached at 1-844-386-9559."Wawa claims it is now offering credit monitoring and identity protection at the credit monitoring bureau of its choice. However, this belated remedy does nothing to protect against the millions of customers who had their sensitive data exposed to criminals for nearly nine months, and does not ensure protection from fraud going forward," the lawsuit states.No monetary value has been set but the suit does state the matter exceeds $5 million.