TJX and Heartland hacker Albert Gonzalez may be behind bars for the next
20 years, but the fraud fallout from his hacking is still spreading: a
Florida credit union is now reissuing 12,000 debit cards after its
customers’ accounts were compromised in the wake of the Heartland Payment
Systems breach by Gonzalez and his cohorts.
MidFlorida Federal Credit Union had issued 5,000 new cards to its members
last year, according to a published report in The Ledger in Lakeland in
the wake of Heartland’s disclosure that its network had been breached,
exposing 100 million credit and debit card transactions. The credit union
has around 80,000 debit card accounts overall.
Gonzalez last week was given the largest sentence ever levied for a
computer crime: 20 years in prison for his role in the massive breach of
TJX, BJ’s Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, Boston Market, Barnes & Noble, Sports
Authority, and Dave & Busters restaurants. It was considered the largest
identity theft case ever in the U.S. A day later, he was handed another
20-year sentence for breaching Heartland Payment Systems, Hannaford Bros.,
Target, 7-Eleven, JC Penney, and WetSeal, but that sentence will be served
concurrently with the first one.
MidFlorida sent notices out all of its affected debit card holders on
March 26, noting that they should also review their accounts for any
potential fraudulent activity. Kathy Britt, chief operating officer for
MidFlorida Federal Credit Union, reportedly said the credit union is
replacing this latest round of debit cards due to some recent fraud
activity tied to the Heartland breach.
http://www.darkreading.com/security/vulnerabilities/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224201205
By Kelly Jackson Higgins
DarkReading
April 02, 2010