Keep a close eye on your credit card transactions folks - MAJOR BREACH

MasterCard warns of possible security breach, Visa also reportedly affected

Published March 30, 2012

| FoxNews.com

Print Email Share Comments inShare71 Text Size DEVELOPING: MasterCard is reportedly investigating a possible breach of cardholder account data involving a U.S.-based payment processor, the company said Friday.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Purchase, N.Y., credit-card company said law enforcement has been notified of the matter and an "independent data security organization" is conducting an ongoing forensic review.

The company is alerting card-issuing banks regarding "certain MasterCard accounts that are potentially at risk."

"MasterCard's own systems have not been compromised in any manner," a company spokesman told the newspaper.

The spokesman declined to say how many cards may have been compromised or how many banks it is notifying.

The breach was first reported early Friday by Krebs On Security, a blog by former Washington Post reporter Brian Krebs. The blog also reported that Visa was also notifying banks about a breach involving a third-party payment processor.

Representatives for Visa couldn't immediately be reached for comment Friday morning, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Visa and MasterCard do not lend or issue cards to consumers, but instead process transactions for banks that issue their cards and those that handle transactions for merchants.

Representatives of several banks, including Bank of America Corp. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., either couldn't be reached for comment or declined to comment Friday morning, the newspaper reports.

MasterCard said it will "continue to both monitor this event and take steps to safeguard account information."

Cardholders concerned about their accounts should contact the banks that issued them their cards, MasterCard said.

Click here for more on this report from The Wall Street Journal.

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