From Mashable:

Identity Theft: Three Men Indicted for Stealing 130 Million Credit Card Numbers
Posted: 17 Aug 2009 04:20 PM PDT

Identity theft isn’t a regular topic we cover on Mashable, but when three people allegedly stole 130 million credit cards, it’s hard not to be bewildered.

Earlier today, a Grand Jury indicted a U.S. man and his two co-conspirators for stealing 130 million bank card numbers in 2007. Albert Gonzales of Miami is charged with hacking and compromising major credit card hubs, including 7-Eleven, Heartland Payment Systems, and Hannaford Brothers.

According to the indictment, the men sold some of the numbers, which were used to make illegal withdrawals from multiple banks. They apparently got around the security of these systems with database injections that helped them intercept credit card transactions in real time.

Gonzales has already been indicted for similar crimes, according to The New York Times. Last year, he was indicted for the theft of 40 million credit cards from companies including Barnes & Noble, OfficeMax, Forever 21, and Boston Market. And even more interesting, in 2003 he was working with federal agents to identify his associates after he was arrested for hacking.

This is yet another reminder of how important it is to secure and monitor your credit cards, financial data, and passwords for any anomalies. This type of thing can happen to anybody. Always rotate your passwords and cancel your credit card if any unknown charges start appearing in your bank statement.

It is a good argument against debit cards as they have many fewer consumer protections than credit cards. I will not use a card--debit or credit--that is linked to my bank account. The bank sends them out, I cut them up and keep only one debit card tucked away at home that is used exclusively at the ATM machine at the bank.

My debit card is a Visa that I do link to a checking account. As it's a Visa, I run it as a credit card, which requires a signature, not a PIN (and I get rewards for it). I use it for everyday purchases and almost never write a check. Extra protection, I don't have it linked for overdraft protection to any other account.

About 10 years ago, there were fraudulent charges against my card. Someone in Canada purchased hundreds of dollars of phone cards on it, but with online banking, I saw the purchases on that very day, and notified my bank. Within two days, my money was credited back, and I received a card with a new account number.

Recently, our mortgage company (national), notified us of possible identity theft from an employee, who had been discharged and then indicted. From that, we received three years, free, of credit reports from the 3 majors.