Originally published May 2 2005
MasterCard credit card information may have been stolen from HSBC customers
by Mike Adams (see all articles by this author)
HSBC Holdings alerted 180,000 of their MasterCard holders that they might have had their card information stolen. People with GM-branded credit cards who made purchases at Polo Ralph Lauren may have had their credit card information stolen by criminals. Thus, these people need to be wary of any purchases on their cards. This is just the latest in a string of high-profile cases of identity theft. ChoicePoint and LexisNexis were both cited for their data security failures in the recent past, with hundreds of thousands of records lost to criminals. With all these problems, some state legislatures are considering legislation that would mandate certain data security measures.
- Global bank HSBC Holdings is notifying at least 180,000 people who used MasterCard credit cards to make purchases at Polo Ralph Lauren that criminals may have obtained access to their credit card information, and that they should replace their cards, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
- The situation involves a General Motors-branded card, the Journal reported.
- HSBC's U.K. office was not immediately available to comment.
- The incident is the latest in a string of high-profile cases in which personal data were stolen from retailers or financial institutions.
- More than 20 U.S. states are considering legislation after data security scandals involving ChoicePoint and LexisNexis.
- ChoicePoint, a data collection company, said in February that data on 145,000 people was stolen from its consumer database, resulting in at least 750 cases of identity theft.
- LexisNexis said in March that an intrusion into its Seisint databases may have compromised personal information on about 32,000 people--then this week it upped the estimate to 310,000.
- "I felt the only way to really understand the pros and cons of the technology would be being an early adopter myself."
- The security and potential government regulation of software are hotly debated at the RSA Conference.
- CEO John Chambers believes the network is the front line for security.
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