Record 8 million cards said affected; no word yet of fraud. As common as corporate computer break-ins and credit card fraud have become, the disclosure this week that a hacker gained access to millions of customer account numbers through a merchant processor’s system was staggering. Though details were still scarce, the information that card associations did provide showed a breakdown of security that had no precedent, at least in terms of the sheer number of card accounts affected: 8 million in all, by MasterCard’s tally. Of those, Visa said its share was some 3.4 million, with another 2.2 million coming from MasterCard. A spokeswoman for American Express confirmed that some of its accounts had been exposed but declined to say how many. Some accounts were also exposed at Discover Financial Services, a division of Morgan Stanley, but a spokeswoman declined to provide details. One significant piece of information on which the associations were keeping a tight hold was the identity of the processor involved. Visa, MasterCard, and American Express declined to discuss the breach in detail, saying they were involved in sensitive investigations with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other authorities. Banks contacted also said they did not know the name of the processor. Full Story
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