Aussie banks cancel 10,000 credit cards

[security curmudgeon <jericho () attrition org>]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/29/aus_banks_cancel_credit/

Aussie banks cancel 10,000 credit cards
No you didn.t exceed your limit, we can.t secure our data
By Natalie Apostolou
Posted in Security, 29th May 2011 22:50 GMT

The Australian banking system has been rocked by a mystery security breach 
which caused the immediate cancellation of over 10,000 cards on Friday. 
The Commonwealth Bank and the St George Bank initiated the alert via SMS 
to customers notifying them that their cards would be cancelled as part of 
precautionary measures.

The Commonwealth Bank said in a statement that it was alerted to comprised 
security for credit card data following the report of a potential data 
breach by an undisclosed Australian merchant (serviced by another bank). 
However, none of the affected banks have revealed the cause or detailed 
the exact nature of the security breach.

The Commonwealth Bank has cancelled 8,000 cards while Bendigo Bank has 
also reportedly cancelled 2,300 cards. Westpac and the National Australia 
Bank (NAB) alerted customers of the fraudulent activity but said that only 
a small amount of customers - fewer than 1,000 - had been affected.

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