The Visa and MasterCard associations, which comprise financial
institutions that issue the credit cards, have reportedly admitted
that the information in question "would include" credit card
numbers, but claimed that none of the accessed credit card details
have been used in a fraudulent way – so far.
Both companies apparently said they cannot provide a timeline of
when the security breaches occurred, or disclose the name of the
processing company, but claimed they have immediately notified the
affected customers and card issuing financial institutions.
Both Visa and MasterCard, which between them are responsible for
over 550 million cards in the US alone, have zero liability
policies. This means that cardholders are not liable for
unauthorised or fraudulent charges.
The matter is currently being investigated by US law enforcement
officials.
