[infoshare] Hackers breach Heartland Payment credit card system - USATODAY.com
- From: "Luis Guerra" <jerseypalisades@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <"Undisclosed-Recipient:;"@freelists.org>
- Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:18:44 -0500
Hackers breach Heartland Payment credit card system
By Byron Acohido, USA TODAY
Heartland Payment Systems (HPY) on Tuesday disclosed that intruders hacked
into the computers it uses to process 100 million payment card transactions
per month for 175,000 merchants.
Robert Baldwin, Heartland's president and CFO, said in a USA TODAY interview
that the intruders had access to Heartland's system for "longer than weeks"
in late 2008. The number of victims is unknown. "We just don't have the
information right now," Baldwin said.
Tech security experts said the breach could set a record. Retail giant TJX
lost 94 million customer records to hackers in 2007. With more than 100
million transactions per month, they could discover that several months'
worth of transactions were captured, says Michael Maloof, chief technology
officer at TriGeo Network Security.
Heartland processes card payments for restaurants, retailers and other
merchants. It discovered the hack last week after Visa and MasterCard
notified it of suspicious transactions stemming from accounts linked to its
systems. Investigators then found the data-stealing program planted by the
thieves.
"Our discussions with the Secret Service and Department of Justice give us a
pretty good indication that this is part of a group that appears to have
done security breaches at other financial institutions," said Baldwin. "This
is a very sophisticated attack." Once it sorts out the matter, Heartland
plans to notify each victim whose data were stolen to comply with data-loss
disclosure laws in more than 30 states, Baldwin said.
"Cleaning up the mess could be potentially much more expensive than any
fines or penalties," says Michael Argast, senior analyst at security firm
Sophos.
Heartland's disclosure coincides with reports of heightened criminal
activities involving stolen payment card numbers. Security firm CardCops has
been tracking a 20% year-over-year increase in Internet chat room activity
where hackers test batches of payment card numbers to make sure that they're
active. "The numbers could have come from a processor, like Heartland, or
some other source that has access to a lot of customer data but is not a
retailer," says Dan Clements, CardCops president.
Also, Forcht Bank in Kentucky last week began issuing replacement debit
cards to 8,500 patrons, due to reports of fraudulent card activity. "There
are several other banks affected, and this is not isolated to Forcht Bank
customers," the bank said in a Jan. 12 statement to customers.
Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/credit/2009-01-20-heartland-credit-card-security-breach_N.htm
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