Heartland Payment Systems Breached

Heartland Payment Systems is the 6th largest in the US. They process over 100 million credit card transactions a month for over 250,000 merchants. Hackers had been in their system for at least 2 months capturing info and transactions.

Heartland Payment Systems, Forcht Bank Discover Data Breaches

Both Companies Might be Victims of Larger Fraud Schemes

January 21, 2009 - Linda McGlasson, Managing Editor

Heartland Payment Systems, the sixth-largest payments processor in the U.S., announced Monday that its processing systems were breached in 2008, exposing an undetermined number of consumers to potential fraud.

Meanwhile, Forcht Bank, one of the 10 largest banks in Kentucky, told its customers it would begin reissuing 8,500 debit cards after being informed by its own card processor of a possible breach.

In the case of Heartland, while the company continues to assess the damages inflicted by the attack, Robert Baldwin, the company's president and CFO, says law enforcement has already noted that the attack against his company is part of a wider cyber fraud operation.

...Heartland, headquartered in Princeton, NJ, handles approximately 100 million transactions per month, although the number of unique cardholders is much lower. "It is still a question as to the percentage of the data flow they were able to get," Baldwin says, adding he would not speculate on the number of cards potentially exposed..(Full text at www.bankinfosecurity.com).

So far. Heartland sounds pretty smug about it all. They haven't offered Id Theft protection yet but said this: "Consumers will know if their card account numbers have been used by reviewing their monthly statements. Cardholders should report suspicious activity to their issuing banks (the bank that issued the card, not the card brand). If unauthorized use is confirmed, cardholders are reimbursed for the fraudulent purchases and are not held financially responsible. (Read whole statement at www.2008breach.com)

To learn more about Identity Theft and what to do if you are a victim, visit www.StopIdTheftCrime.com and subscribe to the newsletter to obtain your free 46 page eBook "Fighting Back Against Identity Theft".

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