A&M

Profile narrative

Afaze operates as a merchant that accepts payment cards for purchases made at its physical store locations. The organisation provides goods or services to customers who visit its stores in person. Its business model relies on face‑to‑face transactions rather than online sales. This is indicated by the 2015 incident description which notes that the malware captured card data from cards used at Afaze locations and that the incident did not involve online transactions.

The source material does not disclose the size of Afaze’s operations, such as the number of stores it operates or its geographic reach. Consequently, no explicit scale or market footprint can be stated from the available information. Any description of its size would be speculative and is therefore omitted.

Afaze’s distinguishing attribute evident from the incident is its processing of payment card data in a brick‑and‑mortar environment, which made it susceptible to malware designed to capture track‑2 information. The malware that was discovered could collect card numbers, expiration dates and CVVs, but did not obtain Social Security numbers or PINs. This suggests that Afaze’s data handling is limited to the payment card details required for authorising in‑store purchases. The incident also shows that Afaze does not retain or transmit sensitive personal identifiers beyond the card data during the transaction. In response to the breach, the responsible entity set up a dedicated phone line and posted information on its websites to assist potentially affected customers.

No explicit information about Afaze’s ownership, parent company, or subsidiary status is provided in the source material. Therefore, any statement regarding its corporate structure would be unsupported. The available details focus solely on the security incident and its impact on payment card data.

Incidents

1 incident linked to this organisation.