NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - A security breach has occurred at a third-part
processor of payment card transactions that affects over 40 millio
card accounts, Mastercard International said Friday.

Of the cards involved, 13.9 million were MasterCard-branded cards
which include Maestro and Cirrus, and 22 million were Visa cards, sai
Visa spokeswoman Rhonda Bentz.

The breach took place at the Tucson office of CardSystems Solutions
which processes transactions on behalf of financial institutions an
merchants. CardSystems said in a statement that it identified th
breach on May 22 and contacted the FBI the next day.

Mastercard learned the final details of the breach this week, accordin
to spokeswoman Jessica Antle. "It looks like a hacker gained access t
CardSystems' database and installed a script that acts like a virus
searching out certain types of card transaction data."

"We're working with the FBI. It's a criminal investigation," Visa'
Bentz said, noting that CardSystems "was out of compliance" with Visa'
security standards when the breach occurred and that Visa would revie
whether it would continue to work with CardSystems when the case i
resolved.

CardSystems said it has taken measures since discovery of the breach t
enhance its security procedures.

Mastercard said in a statement that it is giving CardSystems "a limite
amount of time to demonstrate compliance with Mastercard securit
requirements."

FBI spokesman Rex Tomb couldn't give more details about the case
saying only that "we're looking into it. But there's nothing more w
can say at this time. It's a pending case."

MasterCard said it is giving member financial institutions the specifi
card account numbers that may have been compromised.

The credit card information exposed in the breach did not include an
Social Security numbers, birth dates or other highly sensitive persona
data, Mastercard said.

Consumers receive protection if unauthorized charges are made on thei
credit cards. MasterCard and Visa, for instance, have zero-liabilit
policies.

Bentz said Visa will be monitoring the accounts closely and should kno
before cardholders if there has been any fraudulent activity. Thus far
she said, "We haven't seen anything outside of the norm."

If ever you notice unauthorized charges on your credit card, you shoul
notify your card issuer immediately.

The breach reported by Mastercard on Friday is one in a long line o
breaches reported this year by consumer data aggregators lik
ChoicePoint, retailers such as DSW and corporations such as Tim
Warner, parent company of CNN/Money.com.

Rather than a rash of illicit activity, experts say, the slew o
reports may have more to do with companies wishing to protec
themselves in the wake of a California state law requiring businesse
to notify its customers when their personal information has bee
exposed in a security breach.

Illinois this week became the second state to pass such a law.

http://money.cnn.com/2005/06/17/news...dex.htm?cnn=ye

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