Hacker accesses 2.2 million credit cards

CNNfn ^ | Tues. Feb. 18, 2003 | Fred Katayama

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A hacker has gained access to as many as 2.2 million Visa and MasterCard accounts, the two companies announced Monday.

The hacker breached the security system of a company that processes credit card transactions on behalf of merchants, Visa and MasterCard said.

[RandallFlagg]

If they find him/her, I hope they hand him over to his victims. Almost nothing's worse than a thief.

[Squantos]

Bumpity Bump to the Top !!

Stay Safe "H" !

[Salvation]

One more reason to pay off the credit card debt and cut up the Master Card or Visa Card!

[kemosabe]

Was struggling to post this other article from Forbes;
[couldn't preview or post - LoL]
apparently the theft is for OVER 5 Million Accounts...

http://www.forbes.com/business/newswire/2003/02/17/rtr881826.html

x
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[the_Watchman]

None of the Visa accounts has been used fraudulently, Visa spokesman John Abrams said.

I love this! How in the world could they possibly certify that none of the 2.2 million card numbers had been used fraudulently?

My visa card security was recently compromised. My credit union representative went over every transaction subsequent to the security breach. Has this auditing been performed on these accounts? Get real!

[Oreo Kookey]

I ask you to consider this, credit cards are no different from guns. Neither one can do any harm without the hand of a human. Seems like it's the humans fault if there is trouble with either one. Otherwise they just lay there and collect dust.

[Dust in the Wind]

Maybe we need to start beheading those that can't deal with life under their own idenity.

[Glenn]

Citizens Bank, a financial institution serving the Northeast, shut down the accounts of 8,800 customers whose card numbers had been accessed after being notified by MasterCard on Friday, bank spokeswoman Pamela Crawley said. All of those accounts were safe, she said.

Shoot. That's my bank. Hope I am not in that group. I lost a MasterCard once. It was a supreme hassle to get a new one.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Yes, that was my immediate reaction.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Hopefully by now, you've called their customer service number?!

[balrog666]

Shoot. That's my bank. Hope I am not in that group. I lost a MasterCard once. It was a supreme hassle to get a new one.

Always have a spare or two, even if you only use once a year.

I get 4 or 5 pre-approved offers a week, so every once in a while, I'll get one, use it once, and store it my safe or at my office. Whenever I have a dispute with a credit card company, I rip up their card, and start using a different one - a very effective technique.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

http://www.forbes.com/business/newswire/2003/02/17/rtr881826.html

Over 5 million Visa/MasterCard accounts hacked into
Reuters, 02.17.03, 10:41 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - More than five million Visa and MasterCard accounts throughout the nation were accessed after the computer system at a third party processor was hacked into, according to representatives for the card associations.

Early indications were that none of the information, which would include credit card numbers, was used in a fraudulent way, according to the representatives.

The associations said they could not provide a timeline of when the breach took place or details on how it was accomplished because it involved a third party processor used by merchants and not Visa or MasterCard systems. The associations said they could not disclose the name of that processor.

Visa and MasterCard are associations made up of financial institutions who issue the cards.

MasterCard said it began to notify its members the week of Feb. 3 that more than 2 million MasterCard accounts had been broken into after the processor told it about the problem, MasterCard spokeswoman Sharon Gamsin told Reuters.

About 3.4 million Visa accounts also have been accessed in the incident, according to spokesman John Abrams.

"Visa's fraud team immediately notified all affected card issuing financial institutions and is working with the third-party payment card processor to protect against the threat of a future intrusion," the association said in a statement.

Neither Visa nor MasterCard would disclose which institution were involved.

"This is not something regional, it was throughout the nation and could be any bank," Abrams said.

Both associations said no customer would be liable for any charges incurred as a result of fraud. They said the processor was working with law enforcement officials on the matter.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Excellent advice. We do the same here in this family.

[muggs]

Maybe we need to start beheading those that can't deal with life under their own idenity.

Sounds good, maybe we can start with the one that took my idenity.

[pfflier]

Didn't intelligence debriefing indicate this was how Al Qaida got a lot of it's money?

Remember the worm about a month ago. That also happened just prior to 9-11 (Chinese hackers)

Maybe code orange is a good idea

[Dust in the Wind]

I was thinking of the old west when it was such a risk to a persons life to have a horse stolen that horse theives were hanged or shot. I just went through getting new cards because someone had somehow gotten my phone card to work for them. I've been waiting a little over a week for the new cards which came and now have to activate them. Could have been worse but still was angry enough to do bodily harm to that person. Hope your trials are getting better.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Didn't intelligence debriefing indicate this was how Al Qaida got a lot of it's money?

Yes! FBI Charges Qatari Man in 9/11 Probe

[muggs]

I understand how angry it can make you, I'm glad you got it fixed so fast.

Things are finally straightened out for me thankfully, but not before I had my drivers license suspended twice. First time because she was involved in a minor accident without insurance. After I got that taken care of, license was suspended again because she didn't pay the traffic ticket she got from the accident.

I still don't know if she actually had a drivers license with my name and her picture or if she just gave the police my SS#, and info. She fled the state shortly after having the accident because of felony warrants. They filed charges against her over what she did to me but the charges were dropped in a plea bargin. She did do time in prison for the other charges.

Sheesh, I'm glad that's over. I tried to have my SS# changed after that but they told me I didn't have a good enough reason.