Sears Holdings Corp. announced Friday it detected a data breach at its Kmart stores that started last month, affecting certain customers' credit and debit card accounts. The data theft is the latest in a string of hacks that have hit several big U.S. companies, including JPMorgan Chase, Dairy Queen, Target, Supervalu, Home Depot and Neiman Marcus. The parent company, which also operates Sears stores, says that Kmart detected the breach Thursday but couldn't provide the number of affected cards. However, it said that it was able to remove the malware. It also said that it appears no personal information, debit cards, PIN numbers, email address and social security information were obtained by the hackers. And there's no evidence that Kmart.com shoppers were affected.

Kmart, which launched an investigation into the hacking, apologized to its customers and said it was working with federal authorities, banking partners and security firms in the probe. The Secret Service was among the agencies investigating, a spokesman said.

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Exclusive/breaking: Sears says malware-based breach at Kmart jeopardized customer card numbers http://t.co/eWZ1Osmftl — briankrebs (@briankrebs) October 10, 2014

Kmart quietly discloses a data breach of payment card data in an SEC filing. http://t.co/N7lcaNyF8v — Danny Yadron (@dannyyadron) October 10, 2014

— The Associated Press and Reuters