What may be the largest credit card security breach in our nation has banks all over the country and here in the Tri-State scrambling to protect customers.
Kentucky's Forcht Bank has canceled more than 8,000 debit cards, and it's likely other banks will soon be taking similar steps.
Forcht disabled 8,500 debit cards after learning hackers accessed data belonging to a company that processes debit card transactions from merchants. New cards will be sent to those customers in the next week to 10 days.
Heartland Payment Systems, a New Jersey credit card processor, disclosed the security breach on Tuesday. Company officials say cyber criminals used software to gain access to customer information associated with the over 100 million card transactions it handles each month.
The data compromised includes the information on a card's magnetic strip, which could be used to duplicate a card. The president of Heartland says no personal ID numbers, pin, addresses or telephone numbers were involved in the breach.
Heartland is now working with the secret service to investigate. Officials believe this incident may be part of a widespread global cyber fraud.
Forcht Bank says it is not aware of any fraudulent transactions on its customers accounts, but has canceled all debit cards as a precaution. The bank will be issuing new replacement cards; however, until the new cards arrive in the mail, customers will have to use a different card or come into the bank for cash.
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here for more information about the breach from Heartland Payment Systems.
