March 10, 2006
Card companies face increasing security breaches
Suspect transactions seem to have become the rule rather than exception as increasing numbers pop up throughout the United States and other countries. According to officials investigating the case, a large number of these transactions may be related to a security breach that happened at a merchant facility in California last year. The fallout from this event is only now becoming known. Visa USA was one of the first companies that gave an indication that everything was not all right. Recently released figures from the company indicate just 17% of 231 large retailers comply with industry wide data-security rules. Data-security experts believe that this is the proverbial tip of the iceberg. They believe that more such reports will be forthcoming in the next few months.
Sadly, most of the card companies have been trying to take adequate precautions to avoid just such a problem. Visa, MasterCard International, American Express Co., Discover Financial Services LLC, and other card companies harmonized their individual data-security rules into a common set of rules known as the Payment Card Industry data-security standard. This was done a year back. The rules mandate measures such as data encryption, firewalls, and regular anti-virus scans and apply to all organizations, including merchants, that handle card data. However, more than 80% of the large merchants are not yet in compliance.
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