November 19, 2009
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News: Spanish Firm Has Security Breach
An apparent security breach at an unnamed Spanish debit and credit card payment processing firm has compromised over one million German card accounts. Germans who recently traveled to Spain and used their Visa or MasterCard debit or credit card are being warned to check their statements over closely in search of any unauthorized transactions. According to the German Central Credit Card Commission (ZKA), the nation's banks have responded very quickly to the situation and are sending out new cards as a precautionary method. According to Steffen Steudel, a spokesman for ZKA it appears all German banks have been affected by the data breach including Volksbank, Raiffeisenbank, Deutsche Bank (DB), DKB-Bank, Barclays, Lufthansa and Karstadt-Quelle. The Commission said that all cardholders would be notified by their card issuer.
Visa and MasterCard, the world's two largest credit card networks say their systems have not been attacked and it appears the breach occurred somewhere else in the chain. There continues to be some uncertainty as to just how the breach occurred and the only information being released it that the data breach occurred at a Spanish credit card processing company for retailers, hotels, and restaurants. There have already been some reports of customer complaints pertaining to unauthorized transactions for online purchases. It has also not been reported.
At this time it appears that only German credit card customers have been affected. In a statement by the UK banking industry said it was not likely any British banks have been affected. However, it was reported that Visa and MasterCard did notify UK banks that it is possible their customers are involved. Therefore, it is recommended that all customers closely examine their card statements. A spokesman for Visa Europe assured all customers that if they become a victim of the theft, they will get reimbursed according to the terms of their bank contract.