A hacker has gained access to as many as 2.2 million US Visa and MasterCard accounts, the two companies announced yesterday.
CNN reports that the hacker breached the security system of a company that processes credit card transactions on behalf of merchants, Visa and MasterCard said.
Spokesmen for the two companies said they had notified the banks that issued the affected cards. Visa said none of the Visa accounts had been used fraudulently.
The affected accounts make up about 0.4% of the 560 million MasterCard and Visa cards in the US.
CNN said both card companies have zero-liability policies, which protect cardholders from being held responsible for unauthorised or fraudulent charges.
Citizens Bank, a financial institution serving the northeast, shut down the accounts of 8 800 customers whose card numbers had been accessed after being notified by MasterCard on Friday, bank spokesperson Pamela Crawley said. All of those accounts were safe, she said.
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