Anyone got any more info on this one (http://196.30.226.221/sections/internet/2003/0302191213.asp?O=FPT)? (Strange looking URL. I hope it works.)

CNN reports that Discover Financial Services and American Express yesterday joined the list of credit card companies saying a hacker breached a security system of a company that processes transactions on behalf of merchants.

Found the CNN link (http://money.cnn.com/2003/02/18/technology/creditcards/index.htm).

I don't have any information about that one Al, but this (http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,5963447%5e15330%5e%5enbv%5e15306-15319,00.html) news sure had people around here in an uproar for a couple of weeks.

As you can see the link I sent is for an Australian news agency - the theft occured in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada I had no idea that the news had spread that far.

In this case, the computer in question was being junked and an employee took the drive home and put it in his own computer - and reformatted it!

In the days after the drive was reported missing, the companies whose records had been compromised spent gazillions of dollars sending out letters informing customers that their information was/or was not on the drive.

All that for a 30 GB drive that the dummy could have bought at any one of a number of local computer re-cycling outlets for around $50 - the price of a good meal in a restaurant.

Having worked for many years in the IT industry here, I know for a fact that this kind of thing goes on all the time. What amazed me about this local incident is not that it happened, but that it was made public.

In the past, such indescretion by an employee was always handled quietly - rerimand, economic censure, in extreme cases "early retirement" - so as to avoid the kind of panic that was created by making it public.

Are our identities more at risk now than in the past? I suspect we are no more at risk now than we ever were, it's just that now we know about it.

This (http://www.paypalsucks.com/forums/showforum.php?fid=6) forum makes it clear to me at least that our financially security is in jeopardy even when we think we're doing the right thing to protect it.

Take care, Margaret

The card companies have zero-liability policies, which protect the card holder from responsibility for any unauthorized charges or fraudulent use. But that doesn't mean you can rely on them to handle the situation without any input from you. Consumer advocates recommend that you be vigilant in checking your credit card statement for any charges you did not make. -- CNN

Al, I don't imagine there will be more info on this until people start noticing fraudulent purchases on their accounts, or the authorities accuse someone of the crime. It is quite disconcerting to find that such a massive number of our credit cards could have been accessed - I am afraid that this is just the tip of the iceberg, and that similar attacks will follow. Technology allows everyone, including criminals, speedier access to information, and as Willie Sutton once "robbed banks, because that's where the money is", more cyber-criminals will rob identities and financial records.

At least now I can check my credit card account while I'm online, instead of having to wait for the mail to find out if I've been "robbed". :) :(