A Cyber Theft Epidemic: Another Credit Card Data Breach

Heartland Payment Systems was thought to be the company breached but researchers speculate another payment processing company being compromised.

There was already a serious credit card data breach within Heartland Payment Systems just recently but this new breach may not be associated with Heartland and the culprit may not be known as of yet. It seems to be an epidemic of cyberthieves hacking into or compromising systems at large companies where they are able to steal credit or debit card information. Ultimately it is all for monetary gain where cyberthieves make off with hundreds or thousands of credit card numbers so that they can turn their own economy into basically lottery winnings.

We just reported of an incident when thousands of Wyndham credit card numbers were stolen by hackers which may prove that this is a mounting concern for corporations who harbor this type of data. The Wyndham credit card number theft situation may have been a bit more isolated when compared to the most recent credit card breach where the victim of the breach appears to be a company that processes online transactions. Many consumers have been contacted by MasterCard or Visa with a statement explaining that their check card or credit card was compromised.

Who is the culprit in this case?

Visa and MasterCard know who the company is that was breached where cyberthieves may have stole thousands of credit card numbers and customer data. The identified company has not been released yet. In this case, researchers may fear that this data breach includes social security numbers, pin numbers, credit card numbers and possibly other viable data. ComputerWorld reports that the breach is a payment processor but has not been 100% confirmed as of yet. Various alerts have been posted from several organizations such as the Pennsylvania Credit Union Association, Tuscaloosa VA Federal Credit Union in Alabama, the New York State Consumer Protection Board and the Community Bankers Association of Illinois.

We speculate that this breach will be identified. In the meantime Visa and MasterCard continue to notify consumers who have been impacted by this massive breach which could turn out to be bigger than some security researchers think.

The pandemic of data theft is sill strong and seems to be on the increase lately. Unfortunately we expect to see more breaches of this type of magnitude continue to happen as our economy suffers. The inspirational words during President Obama's address to congress can only instill hope as thieves continue on the same path of destruction affecting those hurting from our current economic conditions.

Will you be the one to setup a credit monitoring service so that you are somewhat protected from incidents such as this recent data breach?