Wright-Patt Credit Union reissuing cards after data breach
Less than 15 percent of it's members are affected
Friday, January 23, 2009
DAYTON — Wright-Patt Credit Union is reissuing credit and debit cards to thousands of its members whose cards have been identified in Heartland Payment System's information breach, the credit union announced Friday, Jan. 23.
Heartland, based in Princeton, N.J., disclosed Tuesday that intruders had hacked into computers it uses to process 100 million payment card transactions per month for 175,000 merchants in what may be the largest credit breach ever.
Wright-Patt officials said less than 15 percent of the credit union's 172,000 members were affected. A letter to those members will be issued shortly, said Jeff Carpenter, Wright-Patt vice president.
Wright-Patt members who receive a new card will have two weeks to activate it before the old card is deactivated, Carpenter said.
The delay reduces the financial risk to the credit union and gives cardholders who might be on vacation or out-of-town a chance to activate their new cards, he said.
In the meantime, "we will be monitoring closely all these cards that seem to have issues with them," Carpenter said.
According to Carpenter, Heartland contacted the credit union Thursday with the names of affected cardholders.
He added that it can take months, or even years, after a breach before criminals begin trying to use the compromised cards. "It takes time for (those who stole the data) to sort it out and get it sold off to make things happen."
The information breached included card numbers and cardholders' names, but not Social Security numbers, addresses or debit card PIN numbers that might be used to access cardholders' accounts, according to Heartland officials.
Heartland officials are trying to determine the full extent of the breach, which occurred over a period of "several weeks" late last year. The Department of Justice and the Secret Service are investigating what may be a global fraud ring, Heartland officials said.
Wright-Patt members who have questions or notice any suspicious activity on their accounts are urged to contact the Member Help Center at (937) 912-7000 or toll-free at (800) 762-0047.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2437 or jdebrosse@DaytonDailyNews.com.
