What customers should do after Wawa's data breach

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PHILADELPHIA - Wawa says malware was discovered on payment processing servers earlier this month.

According to the company, security teams fixed the breach two days later. However, Wawa believes the malware was planted back in March.

The breach affects customers who paid with a debit or credit card at all potentially any Wawa location. We're talking names, credit or debit card numbers and their expiration dates.

Wawa says they believe there is no longer a risk. The company is offering one year of identity theft protection to anyone affected, and its CEO issued an apology letter to customers.

"We take this special relationship with you and the protection of your information very seriously," Wawa CEO Chris Gheysens wrote. "I can assure you that throughout this process, everyone at Wawa has followed our longstanding values and has worked quickly and diligently to address this issue and inform our customers as quickly as possible."

Tech expert Anthony Mongeluzo, president of South Jersey-based PCS LLC, joined "Good Day Philadelphia" on Friday morning to talk more about how these types of incidents unfold and what you can do about it as a consumer.

Officials: Wawa data breach affects thousands of customers

Tech expert Anthony Mongeluzo joins Good Day to discuss Wawa's data breach.

First, should customers get new credit or debit cards?

"Here's the deal: If you haven't been hit, I wouldn't do it yet," Mongeluzo said, "because here's the thing: It's like the Equifax breach, right? Everyone just got their new credit cards because the credit monitoring was hacked. Well, now you went to Wawa and you were hacked. You could get new credit cards all day. The credit card companies should protect you, number one."

Monegluzo went on to recommend having any type of credit monitoring.

He said it might sound boring, but set up either text alerts from your banking institution or check every day.

"With my American Express, I get an alert every time my card is used. It's annoying," he said, but when he found out that he had bad ads on Facebook that his company didn't post, and he was able to quickly shut them down, it was helpful.

"Good Day's" Mike Jerrick said, "I want that alert! Every time I use any one of my credit cards, I want my phone to ding."

"Exactly, and that's what I do," Mongeluzo said. "Most credit card companies should either have an app that you could use. Call them up if you're unsure how to do it."

When you're looking over past transactions, make sure to check your credit card statements and your bank statements, if you're using a debit card. And if there's anything suspicious, make sure to report it.

Wawa is a sponsor of FOX 29.

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