Starbucks Blames Your Awful Passwords For App Security Breaches

There have been several recent cries on social media by Starbucks customers who have had their app and payment info compromised.

@Starbucks your app was hacked and they took my card info linked to the account and charged crap on my bank. #starbucks #Hacked

— Brian Nash (@bnashLKW) April 11, 2017

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@Starbucks my Starbucks app with $ was hacked. $ pilfered. You may have a data breach. Dm to discuss w your infosec.

— Rob LaMear (@RobLaMear) May 1, 2017

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Somebody hacked into my moms @Starbucks app and spent her gift card money!!! She had $74 on there! Poor thing

— K8 the Gr8 (@_katenicholson) February 27, 2017

But it doesn’t seem like some national-scale hack, as Starbucks hasn’t announced that their systems have been breached in any way.

While the mega coffee company didn’t accept fault for these hacks, it did acknowledge the customer complaints, basically saying it’s your own fault for having weak passwords.

“… We see only a tiny fraction of one percent of account holders impacted,” Starbucks told Good Housekeeping. “We strongly encourage our customers to follow best practices to protect their accounts.”

I guess it does make sense to stop using “password” as your password, but it doesn’t help that Starbucks doesn’t have two-factor authentication on its app. With Starbucks being the largest coffee chain in the world, with an app that stores personal payment information, you’d think a multi-factor authentication would be a given, but instead, its users are left open for these hacks.

While it is true that stronger passwords are a good idea, Starbucks isn’t helping much on their end, as its app, where nearly 1/3 of its overall sales come from, can easily leave you looking at your account activity like:

I guess until Starbucks decides to beef up its security, keep an eye on your account, make sure your password is legit… or just don’t use the app.