MasterCard
International has reported what could be the word's biggest ever
identity theft. It says that credit card data on 40 million
customers could have been compromised after a breach of security at
one of its third-party credit card processing companies in the
US.
This is the latest
identity theft scare to affect major US companies and institutions.
In past months CitiBank, Bank of America, Lexis-Nexis, MCI, Time
Warner, Stanford University and data broker ChoicePoint have all
reported lost or stolen data.
The compromised
MasterCard customer details include almost 14 million customers of
MasterCard-branded cards issued by banks and other credit companies
such as Visa and American Express.
MasterCard said
the systems of Arizona-based CardSystems were breached. It is
believed the incident happened last month and CardSystems called in
the FBI to investigate.
The card details
did not include national insurance numbers and dates of births of
customers, which would have made it easier for fraudsters to carry
out identity theft crimes.
MasterCard said it
had given CardSystems a deadline to bring its security up to
acceptable standards.
So far no
incidents of the stolen details being used for fraud have been
reported. MasterCard and banks are warning customers to monitor
their accounts.