Global "headache": 1.5 million credit, debit cards breached - swipe card through a cheating device created for ID theft? Massive

global "headache": 1.5 million credit, debit cards may be breached

"when you swipe you card, all your information is stolen"... scary

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Hackers put a tiny device on the card readers where you swipe your credit or debit card. So when you scan it they get all your personal information
"They can put a phony thing over the part where you swipe your card. You think you're swiping your card through a reader and what you're really doing is swiping your card through a device the hacker has created," said Jim Lee, head of Consumer Fraud at the Rhode Island Attorney General's Office.
Lee says the trouble is this type of hacking is becoming more common at stores, gas stations, and ATM's.
"People are realizing that this is a new form of theft that they can do electronically, they can do high tech and it has a real volume to them," said Lee.
And because more and more people now pay this way thieves don't have to empty your account. They take a little here, a little there, from many accounts, which people often don't even notice.

October 24, 2012 - "appears to be a massive theft" - MasterCard and Visa warn of potential cardholder account breaches
Earlier, the blog Krebs on Security wrote that MasterCard and Visa have told banks that the “major breach” could involve more than 10 million card numbers compromised between Jan. 21 and Feb. 25. The post noted that the affected information could be used to make counterfeit new cards.

Last year, hackers attacked large amounts of consumer information at firms including Citigroup, Google and Sony. The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a San Diego nonprofit organization, tallied more than 535 data breaches last year involving more than 30.4 million sensitive records. The organization, which publishes a chronology of known data breaches, said it has added up an “alarming” total of 543 million compromised records in the United States since 2005.

Director Beth Givens said that number was only a “sampling.” Not all data breaches come to the attention of news organizations, she said, and many states have no requirement that companies report breaches to an official clearinghouse.

Global Payments: 1.5 million credit, debit cards may be breached
Data from up to 1.5 million credit and debit cards from all major card brands, including MasterCard, Visa and Discover, may have been stolen in a data breach at processing firm Global Payments Inc.

October 24, 2012 - Barnes & Noble warns of nationwide card data theft
Barnes & Noble, the country’s largest bookseller, said data thieves hacked into payment devices at 63 of its stores nationwide and may have stolen credit and debit card information from customers.
The chain said it discovered that in each of the stores, hackers had planted bugs in one card reader. Customers swipe their payment cards through the readers and, if debit card users, enter their personal identification number, or PIN.
Machines were tampered with in Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. In California, the 20 stores hit included branches in Chula Vista, Calabasas and San Diego.

*update*
Nov 19, 2012 - Credit reporting errors costing Canadians - "I feel like a guy who is made to pay for the sins of something I didn't do," said Mervin Smith. "It's like being wrongfully accused of something." Credit rating mistakes are costing unsuspecting consumers thousands of dollars in higher interest rates and preventing some from getting much needed loans, a CBC News investigation has found. In the past few years, more than 500 complaints have been filed with provincial consumer affairs agencies across Canada about credit reporting agencies, many alleging errors by companies led to their poor credit scores. "I feel like a guy who is made to pay for the sins of something I didn't do," said Mervin Smith. "It's like being wrongfully accused of something."

The impact of a false credit score can be "devastating" and it can take months to repair. Dan Barnabic, a Toronto paralegal who has represented clients in credit disputes for the past seven years, said the impact of a false credit score can be devastating.

"You are what your credit is," said Barnabic. "And when you discover something that actually does not belong to you…, that will actually prevent you from getting credit, it's devastating. It turns into a horrific situation that people lose sleep over."

A national survey by the non-profit Public Interest Advocacy Centre published in 2005 found that 18 per cent of the people surveyed had discovered inaccuracies in their credit report. Ten per cent of those who discovered the issue believed they were denied access to financial services due to the errors. Barnabic estimates the number could be much higher. The Toronto paralegal says about one-third of his approximately 3,000 clients have found inaccuracies in their credit reports. "On a weekly, daily basis people would knock on my door and say, 'Dan, I have a problem. I have something on my report that does not belong to me,' " said Barnabic.

Unaware of charges. Joan Biseau, a hospital technician in Moncton, N.B., believes she is still paying thousands of dollars in extra interest on a vehicle she recently purchased after her credit rating was downgraded due to an error by Rogers Communication. Biseau was unaware of an outstanding charge on her Rogers account until three years after the fact, when a debt collection agency began calling in February, 2011. Biseau promptly paid the bill when notified. The telecom company had sent her last bill for about $200 to the wrong address and later admitted to the mistake. Despite Rogers acknowledging its error, the black mark remained on her credit rating for more than a year. Biseau says it forced her to get a high-interest loan on the 2007 Chevrolet Cobalt she bought in September of 2011, increasing the cost of her purchase by up to $10,000.

*update*
Dec 23, 2012 - Hacker says “leaked” Verizon accounts actually FiOS, not Wireless ...saying Verizon didn’t respond to a bug report. Verizon, however, is crying foul.

ZDNet reported the story yesterday, after the hacker posted information for around 300,000 customers on Pastebin and linked to the page on Twitter. This was a response to Verizon not fixing the security holes the hacker used to gain access to the information and subsequently reported to Verizon.

After the report spread, however Verizon quickly stepped in to say that the amount of accounts claimed to be compromised was exaggerated and that the hacker was spreading false information. TibitXimer turned around and revised the story, saying that the millions of accounts actually belong to Verizon FiOS customers, not Verizon Wireless. The Twitter account from which TibitXimer was making these new statements has since been suspended.

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Photo courtesy Elaine Thompson / AP