Courier firm United Parcel Service revealed on Wednesday that several of its retail outlets had been hacked, putting at risk the credit and debit card information of customers at 51 franchises in 24 states. However, the firm acted quickly to contain the matter.

The company said customers who used a credit or debit card at those stores between January 20, 2014, and August 11, 2014, could have been exposed to the breach. It has 4,470 franchised center locations in the US.

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In a report on online tech outfit CNET, the UPS Store assured customers that the issue is under control and apologized to customers that may have grown anxious because of it.

"I understand this type of incident can be disruptive and cause frustration.... At The UPS Store the trust of our customers is of utmost importance... As soon as we became aware of the potential malware intrusion, we deployed extensive resources to quickly address and eliminate this issue. Our customers can be assured that we have identified and fully contained the incident," said UPS Store president Tim Davis in a statement.

The UPS Store said it hired an IT security team to investigate the matter after it was alerted by authorities that there was a malware intrusion in its system. The company added that it had eliminated the threat as of August 11 and that customers can shop safely at all locations.

CNET said The UPS Store is among the line of retail outlets that have suffered hacking breaches recently. Retail giant Target revealed in December that hackers obtained credit card data for more than 110 million customers who shopped in its stores late last year.  Arts and crafts retail chain Michaels Stores, department store Neiman Marcus, and restaurant chain P.F. Chang's have also disclosed security breaches with the intention to pilfer customer's credit card information.

TagsUPS, Malware, hacking