Heartland Payment Systems Discloses Credit and Debit Card Data Breach
One of the country’s largest credit and debit card payment processing companies, Heartland Payment Systems (“Heartland”) based in Princeton, New Jersey, announced on Monday, January 19, 2009, that credit and debit card numbers, expiration dates and cardholders names were stolen after its computer systems were hacked. Although the Heartland breach exposed the personal data of 600 million or more cardholders, and Heartland became aware of the breach in fall, 2008 -- and may even have been aware of the breach as early as May, 2008 -- it did not publicly reveal the breach until just two days ago, exposing millions of cardholders to the possibility of fraud for many months.
The Heartland data breach could wind up rivaling some of the largest data thefts in history. In January, 2007, the retail chain TJ Maxx (“TJX”) admitted that confidential credit and debit card data on more than 45 million customers had been compromised. Avivah Litan, a data security analyst interviewed by the New York Times, said that the Heartland breach may dwarf the TJX breach and could result in hundreds of millions in losses and other expenses. “If you add it all up . . . it could cost as much as half a billion dollars in losses – or twice as big as TJX,” she said.
Cardholders are advised to examine their credit and debit card monthly statements closely for any evidence of fraudulent unauthorized charges. Should you find unauthorized charges on your credit or debit card statements, and you believe that your credit or debit card information was stolen as a result of the Heartland breach, please contact us immediately to discuss your legal options.