MasterCard has notified law enforcement and banks that issue its cards of a possible data breach at a third-party payment processing company.

The company says “certain MasterCard accounts that are potentially at risk” and that an “independent data security organization” is investigating the matter.

It’s not yet known how many card accounts were put at risk by the breach.

Meanwhile, blogger Brian Krebs reports that Visa has also begun notifying banks about a breach.

From KrebsOnSecurity.com:

The card associations stated that the breached credit card processor was compromised between Jan. 21, 2012 and Feb. 25, 2012. The alerts also said that full Track 1 and Track 2 data was taken – meaning that the information could be used to counterfeit new cards.

MasterCard, VISA Warn of Processor Breach [KrebsOnSecurity.com]

MasterCard Warns of Possible Data Breach [WSJ]

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