World's Largest Identity Theft Case

US Courts have charged three men for perpetrating the largest ID theft case in history, one which potentially affected some 130 million people. The men broke into the systems of Heartland Payment Systems and planted programs that captured the credit card data of customers as it was being entered. The information therefore related to active accounts. The security breach has not yet been explained, but in broad terms, the approach used is one of the oldest methods favoured by hackers and numerous variations of the method have been used. It points to a need for strong safeguards against unauthorized intrusion and the need for monitoring systems to ensure that here are not activities related to unauthorized programs and program changes. A summary of the case as it stands is included in this Globe and Mail article.