Kmart is investigating a payment system Intrusion.  Sears Holdings announced late Friday that it detected a data breach at its Kmart stores that started last month. Kmart says certain customers' credit and debit card accounts may have been hacked. The company is working with leading security experts to find the cause of the breach. The company said that the malware removed and that no personal information was compromised.

On Thursday, Oct. 9, Kmart's Information Technology team detected that its payment data systems were been breached and immediately launched a full investigation working with a leading IT security firm.

Kmart issued this statement:

Our investigation to date indicates the breach started in early September. According to the security experts we have been working with, our Kmart store payment data systems were infected with a form of malware that was undetectable by current anti-virus systems. We were able to quickly remove the malware. However, we believe certain debit and credit card numbers have been compromised.

Based on the forensic investigation to date, no personal information, no debit card PIN numbers, no email addresses and no social security numbers were obtained by those criminally responsible. There is also no evidence that kmart.com customers were impacted.

It is important to note that the policies of most credit card companies state that customers have no liability for any unauthorized charges if they report them in a timely manner. To further protect our members and customers who shopped with a credit or debit card in our Kmart stores during the month of September through yesterday (Oct. 9, 2014), Kmart will be offering free credit monitoring protection.

Given the criminal nature of this attack, Kmart is working closely with federal law enforcement authorities, our banking partners and IT security firms in this ongoing investigation. We are deploying further advanced software to protect our customers' information.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our members and customers. We want our members and customers to be aware of the situation and we suggest that customers carefully review and monitor their debit and credit card account statements. If customers see any sign of suspicious activity, they should immediately contact their card issuer. The most up to date information will be available on our website, kmart.com and customers can contact our customer care center at 888-488-5978888-488-5978.