Jul 21 2005 : From October 2005, Visa USA and American Express are to terminate ties with CardSystems, the card processing firm which potentially exposed 40 million credit card accounts to hackers. In what is the biggest-yet card security compromise, CardSystems advised during June 2005 that over 40 million credit cards were at risk of fraud after hackers exploited a hole on its systems. From Visa’s perspective, CardSystems had failed to adequately protect cardholder data on its network, and had violated Visa’s rules by retaining some data after transactions were processed.
MasterCard has given CardSystems until August 31 to meet its security requirements, in view of the processor’s efforts at improving its defenses since the breach was found. Discover Financial Services meanwhile is reviewing the situation and will take a decision once its security audit concludes. Both Visa and American Express have advised that banks and retailers affected by the shift will be given assistance to move to other card processors by end-October, but MasterCard has said that if possible, it would prefer to avoid disrupting its merchant customers.
CardSystems has warned that if Visa does stop using its services, the card processor will go out of business, according to a report in the New York Times. The processor expects to comply with Visa’s and MasterCard’s security standards by end-August, but Visa has suggested that its efforts to mediate with CardSystems were not reciprocated. CardSystems, which processes over USD 15 billion in payments a year, expressed surprise at Visa’s decision to cut its ties, with hope that this decision would be reconsidered, but Visa claims that the damage has already been done.
http://www.epaynews.com/index.cgi?su...2215212&block=
Interesting stuff, I wonder if this is actually going to happen or whether CardSystems can get them to change their minds?
Id figure if Visa does say 'goodbye' that could very well be another lawsuit against them.
Regards,
Lee
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