We knew it would happen again. It was only a question of when and how much data the hackers would steal. This time they appear to have gotten more than a million Visa and MasterCard credit and debit card account numbers.?
The breach took place at Global Payments of Atlanta, a company that processes these transactions for merchants. Although the breach came to light on Friday, it is?believed the thieves had access to this information from late January until late February.
On Sunday, Global Payments announced the hackers had compromised less than 1.5 million card numbers. In a statement, the company said ?the incident is contained.?
Both Visa and MasterCard issued statements that stress their systems were not compromised in this attack.?
Over the weekend, Visa removed Global Payments from its list of ?compliant service providers.??
This is far from the largest data breach in the last few years. But it reminds us that the systems for handling digital financial transactions remain extremely vulnerable.?
"Why on earth are we still getting breaches of millions of compromised card numbers in this day and age?? asks Pam Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum. ?Visa and MasterCard are supposed to have lots of checks and balances in place to prevent this kind of thing from happening.??
If there's any good news here, it's that the bad guys did not get Social Security numbers which can be used to commit the kind of fraud in which someone pretends to be you. That sort of identity theft can create a never-ending nightmare.?
But Stephen Coggeshall, with the online risk-management firm ID Analytics, says a crook still might be able to use a stolen credit or debit card account number to target you for financial fraud.?
"Given that information a clever thief could call up the bank and they could actually take over your account,? Coggeshall says.
So you need to be on guard ?always ? for any suspicious activity.?
"Consumers should be watching their financial statements,? says Karen Barney with the Identity Theft Resource Center, a non-profit group that helps victims of ID theft.?
That means every few days if you bank online. Don?t wait for a paper statement to come in the mail.?
Should you close your credit or debit card accounts? Unless you spot some suspicious activity, there's no need to do that. If your bank or credit union believes an account has been compromised, it will be shut it down automatically. You will be mailed a breach notice and given a new account number.?
Is there anything to worry about?
In cases like this, the banks won?t hold you responsible for anything a thief does with your credit or debit card number.?
That doesn?t mean there won?t be hassles.?
It?s a real pain to switch to a new card when you have charges automatically billed to that account, as so many of us now do.?
But a stolen debit card can create serious problems. What happens if that number is used to drain your checking account? It could take the bank a week or longer to replace those funds which could make it impossible to pay your bills. That might result in late payment fees and penalties.
(FTC Factsheet: Credit, ATM and Debit Cards: What to do if They're Lost or Stolen)
Why is this still happening?
Security experts tell me banks and credit card companies have greatly improved their security programs.?
The weak link continues to be other firms that handle this sensitive data.?
?Because information on a credit card or debit card can travel over many different networks, there are plenty of points of compromise,? says Brian McGinley with Identity Theft 911.? ?The criminals have found out how to get to the point of least resistance and that's probably what's occurred here."?
Pam Dixon with the World Privacy Forum says Visa and MasterCard are "well aware of data breach issues and risks." ?She says it?s their responsibility ?to insure that the people they've contracted with to handle processing are doing their job on security, too."?
Dixon points out that these security breaches don?t just cost the banks. We all pay for this fraud in the form of higher fees and interest rates.
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