A Barnes & Noble companywide customer email was sent out Wednesday evening at approximately 8 PM, informing those who have signed up for member benefits that a recent cyber attack may have resulted in leaked personal information.

My phone received an alert at 8:06 PM, October 14, informing me that certain customer information provided to Barnes & Noble by store members was likely exposed. The corporate account attack, which appears to have initially taken place on October 10, may have leaked home addresses, emails and customer names.

Those who have signed up for Barnes & Noble accounts that offer member discounts were included in this notification. Credit card or banking information was not compromised, according to the email. This type of information is encrypted, and therefore was safeguarded from the cyber criminals, according to my email.

"No compromise of payment card or other financial data," was the verbiage used in the October 14 customer email. Multiple members of my family have active Barnes & Noble accounts, and received the same alert.

"Our system was down for a couple days because of it," said a staffer at the Twin Falls store just minutes after opening Thursday morning. "We're back up now."

The cyber threat was reported on by major news outlets such as CNN Business. The companywide alert included a statement of regret over the incident. The company further communicated that they are taking the threat "very seriously."

Barnes & Noble operates over 600 stores throughout the United States. Twin Falls has one location, which is at 1239 Pole Line Road East.

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