Up to five million Visa and MasterCard account details got into the hands of computer hackers, the two credit companies acknowledged Monday.
Cyber-attackers got the details after they nailed systems that process credit card transactions, though full details on how they broke in and raided the transactions aren't yet being disclosed.
CNN says up to 2.2 million Visa and MasterCard accounts were accessed, but Reuters puts the figure at more like five million. Visa tells reporters none of their cracked accounts have been used fraudulently - yet. They're not taking chances, however: they've tipped off the banks, and could set forth a major withdrawal and recall program to overcome the assaults.
Just which issuing banks got nailed by the Visa/MasterCard attacks isn't yet known, but reporting speculates the problem hit nationwide.
The good news: If the crackers or any of their playmates do try anything funny with any of the hacked accounts, the actual customers won't be liable, since Visa and MasterCard have zero-liability policies for American customers.
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