Hey y'all,

Just heard this on the news, and it's now on Forbes.

I realize this is not the correct place for this topic - however, I do not know how many forum visitors go to the "Everything Else" section. Mods, if this needs moved or deleted please do so - I've also posted in the MS Company Discussion and Everything Else.

I think this is something everyone should be aware of, particularly as shoppers we tend to use Credit Cards when performing shops and particularly reimbursement shops.

Can't post links - but Google: mastercard and visa breach

Here's an excerpt:

DEVELOPING: MasterCard is investigating a possible breach of cardholder account data involving a U.S.-based payment processor, the company said Friday.

"As a result, we have alerted payment card issuers regarding certain MasterCard accounts that are potentially at risk," the Purchase, N.Y., credit-card company said in a statement.

The breach was first reported early Friday by Krebs On Security, a blog by former Washington Post reporter Brian Krebs. The blog also reported that Visa was also notifying banks about a breach involving a third-party payment processor.

Visa and MasterCard do not lend or issue cards to consumers, but instead process transactions for banks that issue their cards and those that handle transactions for merchants.

Representatives of several banks, including Bank of America Corp. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., either couldn't be reached for comment or declined to comment Friday morning, the newspaper reports.

MasterCard said it will "continue to both monitor this event and take steps to safeguard account information."

Cardholders concerned about their accounts should contact the banks that issued them their cards, MasterCard said.

Sources at two major financial institutions told Krebs on Security that most of the cards they analyzed were apparently used in *** New York City-area parking garages.***


FROM FORBES:

“Sources at two different major financial institutions said the transactions that most of the cards they analyzed seem to have in common are that they were used in parking garages in and around the New York City area,” Krebs said.

The private alerts also said that full Track 1 and Track 2 data was taken – meaning that the information could be used to counterfeit new cards, Krebs said."