The news from the hacked third-party payment processor for MasterCard and Visa got worse over the weekend, as early reported estimates of around 50,000 card numbers put at risk turned out to be wrong by 1.45 million. [More]
data breaches
MasterCard, Visa Payment Processor Says Violation Occurred In Early March; 50,000 Cards At Risk
By 3.30.12
Earlier today, we wrote about how MasterCard and Visa had begun notifying banks about a possible data breach at a third-party company that processes credit card payments. Now more information has come out regarding when the breach occurred and how many people may be affected. [More]
MasterCard, Visa Warn Banks Of Possible Data Breach
By 3.30.12
MasterCard has notified law enforcement and banks that issue its cards of a possible data breach at a third-party payment processing company. [More]
AT&T Says Hackers Tried To Swipe Account Info
By 11.22.11
According to AT&T, hackers tried to break into some users’ accounts and make off with some private information. The company calls the attack an “organized and systematic attempt,” but more importantly, a failure. [More]
Hershey's Website Hacked… To Change Recipe
By 8.3.11
While a number of websites and mailing lists have fallen victim to attacks intent on stealing personal information or just proving that the hack was possible, whoever managed to penetrate the security of the Hershey’s Chocolate website had a much more insidious goal: changing recipes. [More]
Researcher: 8 Percent Of Android Apps Leak Private Info
By 7.21.11
Free apps sometimes come at a hidden cost, because malicious software can come in seemingly harmless forms, exposing personal data and sending spammy text messages from users’ accounts. An anti-malware service provider studied 10,000 Android apps found that 800 of the programs were spreading personal data around, and 11 were spamming phony text messages. [More]
Morgan Stanley Data Breach Burns 34,000 Investment Clients
By 7.6.11
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney says it has lost two CD-ROMs containing password-protected but not-encrypted data from investment clients. A spokesman for the brokerage says there’s no evidence that there was criminal intent in the breach, or that the information has been misused. [More]
Which Credit Card Companies Do The Best At Keeping Your Data Safe?
By 6.28.11
According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, there have already been 216 credit card data breaches in 2011, including the Citi hack that resulted in $2.7 million of stolen funds. And while the number of breaches is down from 333 during the same period of time from last year, the security of our credit card information is still a big concern. [More]
Citigroup: 360K Customers' Credit Cards, Not 200K, Were Exposed To Hackers In Breach
By 6.16.11
Citigroup, which suffered a massive data breach that exposed hundreds of thousands of credit cards, upped its initial estimate of the amount of customers’ credit cards exposed from 200,000 to 360,000. [More]
Hackers Swipe Emails, Addresses And Passwords From Video Game Site
By 6.13.11
These are not the best of times to be a gamer who leaves personal information on websites. In addition to the Sony troubles of the past couple months, British game publisher Codemasters has been hacked, leaving emails, addresses and passwords exposed. [More]
Hackers Say They've Stolen Email Addresses, Passwords Of Sony Pictures And Sony BMG Customers
By 6.3.11
Sony’s troubles with hackers continue. Now that the company has recovered from the PlayStation Network outage and lengthy rebuilding process, hackers claim to have stolen and posted email addresses and passwords from 50,000 Sony customers on the Sony Pictures and Sony BMG sites. [More]
Michaels Hit With Possible Class-Action Suit Over Data Breach
By 5.31.11
Three weeks after craft store Michaels fell victim to a data breach that compromised customers’ credit and debit card information, the chain has been hit with a lawsuit seeking class-action status for all those who directly affected by the hack. [More]
Lockheed Martin Says Hackers Didn't Get Sensitive Info In Data Breach
By 5.30.11
On May 21, hackers breached the defenses of aerospace/defense/security mega-contractor Lockheed Martin, causing cyber detectives to converge at the company’s Washington, D.C.-area headquarters. The experts have yet to track down the origins of the attack, but insist they didn’t make off with any sensitive information. [More]
Three More Sony Sites Fall To Hackers
By 5.25.11
Sony got hacked. Again. In three different countries. The music giant confirmed that it had to shut down its Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications shopping site in Canada after thieves broke in and stole personal information of about 2,000 customers. [More]
Senators Ask SEC To Force Companies To Reveal Data Leaks
By 5.12.11
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller has come up with a new tactic to push companies like Sony to disclose hack attacks and data security breaches more promptly: He’s asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to require companies to treat attacks as time-sensitive information that must be provided to investors. [More]
5 Things To Do When A Company Leaks Your Data
By 5.6.11
What should yo do if you’re a victim of Sony’s recent security breaches — or of similar data leaks at other security-challenged-companies? Our clever cousins at Consumer Reports have come up with a set of tips to help you weather the post-hack storm. Top of the list: Accept free credit-monitoring services that the company offers to its customers, but don’t count on them to catch everything. [More]
Michaels Warns Customers Of Possible Data Breach
By 5.5.11
If you’ve shopped at a Michaels big-box craft store recently and used a credit or debit card, keep an eye on your statements, especially if you shopped in the greater Chicago area. The chain notified customers on its e-mail list earlier today about a possible PIN pad breach in Chicago that may apply to other stores as well. [More]
Texas Data Breach Exposes 3.5 Million Addresses, SSNs
By 4.12.11
Everything’s bigger in Texas. Even data breaches. As many as 3.5 million residents of the state found their personal data has been set free in a gaffe by the state government. [More]
