Credit Card Breach: Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover Customers Vulnerable

Heartland Payment Systems, a major payment processing company, disclosed a data breach on Monday that potentially exposed tens of millions of credit and debit cardholders to the risk of fraud in what could quickly become one of the country's biggest data compromises.

Robert H. B. Baldwin Jr., Heartland's president and chief financial officer, said that his company believed the card numbers, expiration dates, and in some cases cardholder names were exposed after attacks on its computer systems at the one point where data had been unencrypted.

Once consumers swiped their cards, so-called sniffer software captured that data as Heartland sought authorization from the major payment companies and banks. Customers of Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover Financial were all vulnerable.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[lungfish]

I put a freeze on our credit through the three major credit reporting agencies.... I don't use credit cards as a rule, I don't own one and haven't for 25years. Think of how much I haven't spent on crap and interest..... anyway, the threat of identity theft doesn't end with the banks and the credit card companies.... heck, how many rental agreements have you signed out there with your social security number on them? How many of those landlords do you trust with your info now? Just an example of how impossible it is to put your info back once its out there....

[moe b]

why don't they make credit cards and transactions more secure? Because they want to sell insurance (identity theft, etc.), and tack that on along to interest rates.

[davidwayneosedach]

Not this again. How many billions will be lost this time? It's 2009. Can't they afford better security?

[netzwerg]

They could afford better security, but that costs money and would lower the profit.

[frantaylor]

Did you hear the story about how Wal Mart caught a person using a stolen credit card? They have cameras EVERYWHERE, even in the parking lot. The perp drive to the store, bought something and paid with the card. They found him in the security footage (they got the timestamp from the transaction and pulled out the footage from that register at that point in time) and followed him out of the store, into the parking lot and to his car. They got a very nice snap of the guy's license plate. Bingo.

Even if you pay in cash, they have a picture of your face. If you EVER gave them your name for ANY reason, they can find an image of your face and use fancy facial recognition software to identify you whenever you go to ANY Wal Mart.

It's JUST like the casinos in Vegas.

[frantaylor]

Don't bother trying to communicate with the credit card processors. They don't deal with consumers and they have no mechanism for doing so. Go to your financial institution. Many of the more progressive credit unions (like mine!) have enhanced security measures. Look into it.

[sasidechick]

How about the statement "were exposed after attacks on its computer systems at the one point where data had been unencrypted." The ONE point??? Why are there ANY points???

And then, "...Customers of Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover Financial were all vulnerable."

Isn't this just about ALL of the major credit cards?

[frantaylor]

You can't process credit card data unless you decrypt it.

[AZterritory]

Go to their website--it directs you to a Q&A area . . . . which refers you to their website, which refers you to . . . . yeah, inspires confidence. I heart cash.

[frantaylor]

Big brother is right there in your cash, too. Hold it up to the light and look at what they have hidden inside.

[Marlonxx]

Sad, seems you have to be more and more careful on the internet with just everything. Soon you'll need something like hidden24.com no matter what you do on the net. You can't help wondering what the next major incident will be - Obama loosing his Blackberry?

/Scared

[frantaylor]

Blackberries have PIN numbers and all the internal content is encrypted, at least the ones used by big mucky-mucks. They are useless when stolen.

[Chavez08]

It can always be decrypted.

[frantaylor]

There is a simple answer: get a separate debit card to use for your online transactions. Keep it at the minimum balance, and only put money into it just before you use it. Don't connect it with any of your other accounts. If there is no money in your account then there is nothing to steal.

[KCFreedom]

This should be a warning to everyone about the risks of what data corporations collect on us.

It has come to the point that there are many sources that now contain enough "one-stop shopping" for data thieves to know enough about us, to financially ruin the vast majority of us.

Note now the Fed government now collects data on all of our credit card purchases, too, and reports it to the IRS. Makes one ask "why would the IRS in charge of monitoring our incomes would have a need to know about every credit card purchase we make?". It should be none of their business. That was a rider slipped into one of the bills last year in the DEMOCRATIC CONTROLLED CONGRESS. I can't remember which bill off-hand they put it in, but it was nothing relevant to the bill, something like a spending bill or something.

As another poster says, this is a great argument for only paying cash for all purchases. Just wait it out and save it up, America.

[frantaylor]

There are serial numbers on every bill and the government could start keeping track of them, too, if they wanted to.

[KCFreedom]

They probably already do to some extent.

I've heard the magnetic strips in newer bills allow the bills to be counted in your pocket by sensors, some in satellites.

[quiviran]

Which Republican slipped it in?

[Erdgeist]

This is one more example that the government should run the financial system thus to de-privatize it. We don't need the middleman. It should be the Fed directly to you the taxpayers.

[frantaylor]

So all financial transactions must be cleared by the government? Is that what you are saying?

[scmucas2001]

I was thinking the same thing. There are far too many middle men working with these numbers and far too many places for the data to fall into the wrong hands. There is some point at which the data is not encrypted and that opens people up for this type of thing to happen.

Very sad.

[JoeBlough]

It's time we get rid of the credit cards and go to an all cash economy. No more threats and no more paying high interest rates. Just a thought. . .

[frantaylor]

And a glorious return to the good olde days of highwaymen and robberies. Are you going to carry $20,000 in cash on your person when you go to pick up your new car?

[JoeBlough]

I wouldn't charge a car on a credit card.

[aznurse]

they have these new fangled things called checks.

[aznurse]

How about using a check?

[elsellel]

And not one mention in this article, NOT ONE, about what the cardholders should do? Should I be concerned about my bank debit card? It appears so, but are there any steps I should be taking to find out if my card was/is compromised (short of waiting for fraudulent charges to appear)? Come on NYT, you're missing an incredibly important piece of the story -- what are the cardholders supposed to do at this point. Sit back, cross our fingers, and hope disaster doesn't strike?

[frantaylor]

You should read the terms and conditions statement that you got with your bank account. It tells you what to do.

[robinhood1]

Read my post below about placing a freeze on your credit files.

[hdohighdesertobserver]

The country is full of people who still think that national health care and Medicare in particular should be run by big business.

[sandiegoconservative]

LOL. Do you have any response to the stories that come out where government employees leave boxes of documents in the trash or laptops that contain confidential information on subways and in taxi's? Don't believe for a second the government is any more secure.

[lvdragonlady]

Why don't you read the flippin article and post accordingly? This has nothing to do with medical insurance.

[MrWampler]

I think s/he's trying to say that if Big Finance can screw up this badly, imagine the probable compromise by Big Health. Tangential, yes.

[TJCole]

This will really help stimulate spending...not..!