SCARBOROUGH, MAINE – Sean Flaherty, candidate for Maine House of Representatives in Scarborough, told a crowd of people assembled for a hearing at the Scarborough Public Library that Hannaford had done a good job trying to recover from the credit card snafu that has affected thousands of their shoppers, including many Scarborough residents. In his remarks he noted that “the technology is out there to make shoppers safe.”

Flaherty said Hannaford had reacted well to the problem and seems to be taking necessary steps to increase the security of their technology systems. “Hannaford, like so many other businesses, thought they were protected and secure,” Flaherty said, “as we are finding out as a result of this incident, a higher standard of security may be necessary to better protect Maine businesses, and thus, protect Maine consumers.” Flaherty mentioned that when the dust settles on this issue and more facts about the situation become public, the legislature would be wise to work with Hannaford to make sure it doesn’t happen to other Maine businesses.

He said, although Hannaford was not able to send a representative to the forum due to pending legal issues, his understanding was they had acted well to protect consumers. He said he understands that Hannaford has responded by spending millions of dollars on increased security. “I think we all appreciate what Hannaford is doing to further protect our financial information, now it’s the business leaders in the state’s job to follow suit and use this as a lesson. My goal is to be a facilitator in Augusta,” Flaherty added, “to help enable businesses to utilize the technology available to protect themselves and their customers.”

Flaherty thanked local computer IT professional Mark Cohen for his involvement and for providing good information to people. Cohen shared his insight and helped to answer questions during the forum.

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