1.5 Million Credit Blunder by Global Payments
1.5 Million Credit Blunder by Global Payments
One of credit cards’ worst histories of security breach has occurred this year. Visa and MasterCard users are facing the possibility of having their personal information stolen and according to sources Global Payments was the one to blame.
No records of credit card accounts, Social security numbers, house address and much other information were said to be taken from the archives of the company. However, Global Payments admit that they have been the mishap of the system and they estimated that about 1.5 million of their subscriber’s records have been tapped.
According to the company, though personal info was not taken, the possibility of identity theft and fraud may happen. In 2007, Heartland Payment Systems a company that manufactures swipe machines for credit cards also had their system hacked and 130 million credit cards were affected. For this weakness in their security, they had to pay a $139 million worth of legal charges in 2009, and it is very likely that Global Payments will suffer the same fate.
Visa has already removed the company’s name from its official list of providers; this is until they fix their security system. This does not prohibit Global Payment from delivering its job;though the move momentarily marks them for potential danger. The company expects to be restored in the list after they have updated their safety measures.
Last year, Global Payments had over 2.44 billion dealings with its 800,000 merchants all over the United States, making it rank seventh in the business.
Though investors may become hesitant in investing to the company after the incident, this does not mean that it will run out of business. Heartland, which had its blunders, was able to regain its loss. If Global Payments handles this fine, they will get their name reinstated in Visa’s list in no time.