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It seems that not a week goes by without a data breach being in the news.  Breaches occur a lot more than we realize – even affecting small businesses such as medical offices and single location restaurants.  However, only the big ones make headlines.  Hackers today have found various ways to obtain private and sensitive consumer data – and merchants are not all to blame.  Continue reading "Can You Protect Your Customers From Outside Data Threats?"

Of all the consumer protection laws coming into play, finally some legislation is being proposed for data security breaches.  When a data breach occurs, you see it in the news is mostly for <positive> public relations reasons.  Companies issue press releases about data breaches to protect themselves and to stay in the good graces of their present and future customers.  If they didn’t reveal such information, it would eventually be discovered and the company would be faulted for not reporting it.  There are consequences either way, but the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sees legislation as a way to force companies to be more proactive. Continue reading "FTC Taking Action Against Data Breaches"

Social networking meets the credit card industry – in a new way this time.  Although, I’m sure a recent new venture would have preferred a more favorable type of news release.

Blippy, a new social networking site which allows users to share their credit card purchases, unintentionally exposed the financial information of some of its members.  Continue reading "Social Sharing Networks and Data Protection"

The latest news about Heartland Payment Systems’ 2008 security breach revealed some alarming, yet important, issues about the reporting of breaches and responsibility of the players involved in data security.

Heartland’s 2008 data breach is supposedly the largest breach of that year, but not the only one hit by the same hacker. According to Bob Carr, CEO of Heartland, most of the companies affected did not come forward. However, news articles are blasting Heartland for not reporting the 2008 breach earlier so customers and merchants could take action and precautions. While the Department of Justice has been successful in capturing individuals behind the recent data breaches, this should be a strong sign to any company involved with sensitive data that they should be stepping up efforts in the prevention of data loss.

Continue reading "Data Security: Who is Responsible?"