Every Processing Company's Niightmare

Global Payments announced Friday that 1.5 million credit card numbers from its systems may have been exposed after detecting “unauthorized access” into its processing system. Global is a processing company that moves the money around for the parties involved in a credit card transaction.  The company said that 1.5 million records may have been exposed, from Visa and MasterCard. Global said that while credit card numbers may have been exposed, personal information such as names, addresses and Social Security numbers were “not obtained by the criminals.”


Global detected the breach in “early March,” but has not specified when exactly the attack took place or how it happened. According to the latest statement released by Global, the breach has been “contained.” The company said it is working with “industry third parties, regulators and law enforcement to assist in the efforts to minimize potential cardholder impact.” It is also working with security and forensics firms to get to the bottom of the access.

Visa Inc. has dropped the card processor involved in a massive data breach from its registry of providers that meet data security standards.

Global Payments CEO Paul Garcia noted that the company continues to process Visa transactions, but that being dropped from the registry “could give our partners some pause that they’re doing business with someone who experienced a breach.”

The company said it will set up a website later Monday to help consumers who might be affected by the breach. Visa and Mastercard's systems were not compromised.

The company said it continues to work with regulators, industry third parties and law enforcement to help in the effort to minimize the potential impact on credit cardholders.