Massive credit card data breach hits local banks, credit unions

Massive credit card data breach hits local banks, credit unions

seattlepi.nwsource.com

Banks in Washington state are coming to terms with what has been described as one of the biggest credit card data breaches ever.

Heartland Payment Systems Inc. -- the sixth-largest payment processor in the U.S. -- revealed this week that criminals had installed spy software on its computer network.

Heartland, a corporation based in Princeton, N.J., that offers credit card and debit card processing to business locations nationwide, says it doesn't know how much data was stolen, since the malicious program was capturing data as it flowed across the network.

(visit the link for the full news article)

How did someone manage to get past this top notched security? Are not these types of systems supposed to be extremely secure? Be sure to check your credit card and bank statements very closely after this. This does not make me very confident about internet security in regards to online payments.

seattlepi.nwsource.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Infosec is my business...

This news, although horrible, will continue to drive clients to my door.

money and credit are so primitive, can i just opt out of the system? I can't stand the idea of supporting something that insults my intelligence so much.

reply to post by Jessicamsa


If it was an organised gang, of sorts, I'd imagine they'd plant a mole in the corporate IT structure and have him/her deliver the malicous code directly to their internal network using dummy accounts and their admin privileges....

It's what I'd do, anyway....

Price Waterhouse Cooper and Carnegie-Mellon’s CyLab have recent surveys that show the senior executive class to be, basically, clueless regarding IT risk and its tie to overall enterprise (business) risk. Data breaches and thefts are due to a lagging business culture – and people aren’t getting the training they need. For example: Microsoft patched for this worm 4 months ago. As CIO, I’m constantly seeking things that work, in hopes that good ideas make their way back to me - check your local library: A book that is required reading is "I.T. WARS: Managing the Business-Technology Weave in the New Millennium." It also helps outside agencies understand your values and practices.
The author, David Scott, has an interview that is a great exposure: businessforum.com... -
The book came to us as a tip from an intern who attended a course at University of Wisconsin, where the book is an MBA text. It has helped us to understand that, while various systems of security are important, no system can overcome laxity, ignorance, or deliberate intent to harm. Necessary is a sustained culture and awareness; an efficient prism through which every activity is viewed from a security perspective prior to action.
In the realm of risk, unmanaged possibilities become probabilities – read the book BEFORE you suffer a bad outcome – or propagate one.

And this is why I do not own a credit card and never will.