Officials are investigating what they believe is one of the largest-known credit card heists in the U.S. after Mastercard and Visa confirmed the data of as many as ten million customers has been stolen.The companies notified U.S. banks of a potential security breach, and they are now going through the process of pinpointing the affected accounts before contacting customers involved.
Customers are urged to check their accounts online or contact their financial institution regarding any concerns they have.
Visa have already provided the issuing banks with the affected account numbers and assured customers they would not be responsible for fraudulent purchases.
The companies, which are the two largest global credit card processors, said the issue stemmed from a third-party vendor, reportedly Global Payments, and not their own internal systems.
Atlanta-based company Global Payments are being named as the third party processor where the breach occurred.
Following the news, shares of the company were halted after dropping more than 9.1 per cent.
Global Payments said it had 'identified and self-reported unauthorized access into a portion of its processing system' and had determined in early March that the intruders might have gained access to credit-card data. Read More
