Credit Card Compromise Covered Up
I’m taking a departure from my normal topics to bring you some important information.
While everyone was watching the inauguration, it came to light that millions upon millions of credit and debit cards were compromised. A processing company, Heartland Payment Systems in New Jersey, lost the capture data for up to 40% of their data during 2008 and the early part of 2009. Heartland processes more than 100,000,000 transactions a month. Experts are calling it massive and saying this is the largest data security breach in history. A source inside the industry estimates that one hundred million credit cards are effected by this breach. Heartland initially stated that the personally identifiable information was not stolen; information such as social security numbers, birthdates, billing addresses, phone numbers. According to the source, that claim “is even being questioned now”.
Interestingly, it’s difficult to find information online. It seems the breach has been quietly swept under the carpet. The website set up by Heartland speaks of openness and fairness but provides no details of the breach such as the number of cards or institutions effected, nor does it suggest a course of action for customers. Instead, it reads more like a quarterly report touting its accomplishments. It refers to itself as the victim (not the card holders) and takes no responsibility for security vulnerabilities.
Lack of Fact
The reason for the absence of details is simple: no one is asking. Frustratingly, very little information online. It is receiving little or no coverage by the major news agencies. Information seems to be only available via secondary as a public service through locals news sources, mostly, who are contacted by banks and credit unions, who are themselves contacted by the credit agencies. To highlight this, here are results from several major news sources:
- The New York Times has posted an article in the Technology section with the headline, “…Some Data Was Stolen”.
- Also in the technology section, The Associate Press, the main national news source for most local newspapers, radio and television stations, has published only one report with the curiously quiet headline “Heartland Says It Has Closed Security Hole“.
- The Wall Street Journal mentions it in passing because Heartland Payment Systems was the Dow’s largest decliner for the day.
- This one really hurts: The Economist doesn’t even mention Heartland or Credit Card Breach anywhere on their site.
- To it’s credit, Blumeburg has had the most complete coverage. They have posted one article but it has had three updates as they continue to follow the story.
On the other hand, local and foreign news agencies are following the story carefully. So if you live in places like Gardner or Enid or Scottsbluff or as remote as Canada then you might be getting this story as front page coverage. Sad!
I don’t consider myself an alarmist or conspiracist. However, I want to know why editors are putting “Princess Michelle’s” outfit on the front page while is burying this story.
What You Can Do
The source suggests checking your account daily to watch for suspicious activity. You should receive a letter from your financial institution stating whether or not your card is effected. If you notice any curious activity, the phone number on the back of the card can be used to ask questions or report a problem. Besides that, I’d recommend making a phone call, shooting off an email or writing a post to your favorite news source and ask them, “What’s the story?!”
[Full disclosure: I'm not a reporter. Also, I'm no fan of the AP as a news source. I think it is watered down and perhaps even censored.]