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Shopify Reports Data Breach Instigated by Rogue Employees

The stolen data may have included customer orders made over the merchant’s websites, including names, email addresses, mailing addresses, and order details, such as what was purchased.

 & Michael Kan Principal Reporter

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E-commerce provider Shopify is reporting a data breach involving two rogue employees, who made off with customer data. 

According to Shopify, the data breach impacted “less than 200 merchants” that rely on the e-commerce company to sell or send goods to internet users. Over 1 million merchants, including boutique shops and well-known brands, use the platform across the globe. 

“Our investigation determined that two rogue members of our support team were engaged in a scheme to obtain customer transactional records of certain merchants,” the e-commerce provider wrote in a forum post on Tuesday. 

In response, Shopify terminated the employees’ access to the company’s network. It’s also working with the FBI and other international law enforcement agencies on the investigation. 

“While we do not have evidence of the data being utilized, we are in the early stages of the investigation and will be updating affected merchants as relevant,” the company said. 

According to Shopify, the stolen data may have included customer orders made over the merchant’s websites, including names, email addresses, mailing addresses, and order details, such as what was purchased. Fortunately, no payment card data or other financial information appears to have been accessed. 

The incident is another example of how rogue employees can become the weakest link in a company’s IT security chain. Last Friday, Amazon was ensnared in a similar incident involving company staffers receiving bribes to help sketchy merchants prop up their products.

Shopify refrained from naming the affected merchants, but the company says its in “close communication” with them regarding the data breach. How many internet users had their data exposed was also left unsaid. But if you’re a major user of Shopify-powered websites, don’t be surprised if you see a data breach notice in the near future.

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About Our Expert

Michael Kan

Michael Kan

Principal Reporter

My Experience

I've been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I'm currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country's technology sector.

Since 2020, I've covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I've combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink's cellular service.

I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.

I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I'm now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I'm always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.

The Best Tech I've Had:

  • My first video game console: a Nintendo Famicom
  • I loved my Sega Saturn despite PlayStation's popularity.
  • The iPod Video I received as a gift in college
  • Xbox 360 FTW
  • The Galaxy Nexus was the first smartphone I was proud to own.
  • The PC desktop I built in 2013, which still works to this day.

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