Cracker Gains Access to 2.2 Million Credit Cards

Doctor Sbaitso writes "CNN reports that a hacker bypassed the security system of a company that processes credit card transactions and gained access to approximately 2.2 million Visa and MasterCard credit cards. Fortunately, none of them seem to have been used fraudulently."

Comments

PIN numbers?

[one9nine]

Can anybody explain to me why credit cards don't have PIN numbers like my ATM card does? Wouldn't this stop a tremendous amount of fraud? All someone needs is someone's card number and expiration date and they can do whatever they want.

I do notice that sometimes, very rarely though, that sites will ask for that extra three digit code on the back of the card, to verify that you do in fact have the card in your hand. This the same concept as a PIN and I don't see why more web sites aren't doing it. It's not like they have to completely revamp their way of accepting credit cards, it should be a very simple fix.

Makes me want to go back to barder. Do you think ThinkGeek would accept two dead chickens and a half wheel of gouda for one of those mini tanks with the camera?

So who is it?

[LinuxParanoid]

This implies to me that a credit card payment gateway was compromised. Who was it?

• Authorize.Net
  
• Verisign
  
• Intellipay
  
• WorldPay
  
• iTransact
  
• QuickCommerce
  
• or someone else?
  

Inquiring minds want to know...

Re:oops, missed the credibility express

[JWSmythe]

Wells Fargo Bank cancelled my debit/Visa card with no notice.. Why? Because I purchased groceries in Los Angeles, and then there was a $300 purchase in the mid west for a plane ticket a few hours later.

Unfortunately, the $300 ticket was to get my 13 year old step-daughter on a plane to see her dad. We didn't know til we got to the airport and Delta told us my card was stolen..

I pulled out my card, and my ID, and showed it to them.. Didn't matter.. I called the bank. They had no record of who did it, only that it was reported as stolen.

Took me 8 hours on the phones with the bank, airline, and every vendor I had bought from in the surrounding days to find out what happened.

When the airline called to verify the card, the bank took the fact that I was buying a ticket for her to be fraud, and cancelled my card immediately.

I went to the bank to get it fixed. They said they tried to contact me. They had my correct number on file (my cell), but said it was disconnected. I had them call my cell from their desk. Amazingly enough, it rang, and I answered.

I've had banks call me before to verify transactions. I have no problem with that. But, lying about it pisses me off.

I wonder how badly they'd handle me on a road trip. I drive from Florida to California and back on a semi-regular basis.. It takes me three days, with very little sleep. That would probably get the card cancelled too.. I'd hate to be stuck in Kent Texas with no gas and a cancelled credit card, because they thought I had traveled too far.

I had a whole stack of returned items, and a whole lot of merchants to apologize to for the bank's error. I never received an apology from the bank.

A month later (a week before xmas), they accidently closed my bank account. I didn't find out til the ATM took my new card.. Their system said there was fraudulent activity. Another bank error. They put all my funds on hold til Jan 6. Good thing I have friends who would loan me money over Christmas. It really sucks to ask your friends to buy everything.. But, they all got paid back after I got my money back.

Every bill check I had sent out previous got bounced. Wells Fargo *ALSO* charged me $25 per check for NSF, even though the funds were in the account, but they erroniously put on fraud hold by them.

You wouldn't believe how pissed I was when I got to the bank. I was polite at first.. They continued to tell me how they were keeping my money.. So, I got louder.. They threatened to call the cops. I told them to. I *WANTED* a cop to hear them saying that they made a mistake and took my money, and wouldn't give it to me.

The bank security were the only nice people working there. One of the guards told me how they screwed him over too, so he was completely sympathetic. He was just standing around to make sure I didn't get physically violent. No problem there, I don't get physically violent, he doesn't have to do anything but stand there. :)

Warning! Never Use Wells Fargo Bank!

I finally got the second set of NSF fees dropped after a few hours of screaming.. Hopefully the customers who overheard the incident had second thoughts of keeping their account at Wells Fargo.

[Rant Mode Off]

I'm now using a nice small bank, that doesn't have the same problems. I told them all about it when I opened my new account. They had heard similiar stories before about them. I'm on a first name basis with the new bank, and they love me.