40M credit cards hacked

Found on CNN Money on Friday, 17 June 2005
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A security breach has occurred at a third-party processor of payment card transactions that affects over 40 million 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, said Visa spokeswoman Rhonda Bentz.

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

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

Seems like good old paper and coin still is one of the safest ways to pay (although you can still get mugged).