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US fraud case signals chilling reminder of retail security problems
Archived article dated Thursday August 7th 2008
The news today that US authorities have charged 11 people in connection with the theft of credit-card details in the largest-ever identity theft case so far is a chilling reminder of the problems of internet security.
They are accused of stealing more than 40 million credit and debit card numbers. The gang allegedly drove past well-known shops in the US and intercepted wireless signals from tills and other in-store devices.
The allegations are that the gang targeted at least 9 well known retailers including the US parent of UK retailer TK Maxx. Those arrested include people in Estonia, Ukraine and Belarus. Card details were found on servers in Latvia and Ukraine. The gang allegedly met on bulletin boards on the internet and transferred the stolen information around the world.
Jonathan Armstrong, partner at international law firm Eversheds, comments:
“Neither the method of attack or the alleged connections with Eastern Europe are new. What is new is the alleged scale of the credit and debit card details held by just one gang and the get tough attitude of the US prosecutors.”
This is again likely to add to the clamour for specific security breach legislation in the UK despite the fact that specific legislation in some of the US states affected did not seem to hamper the alleged gang. UK companies are already obliged to make sure attacks like this do not happen. For example UK data protection law imposes the requirement that 'appropriate technical and organisational measures shall be taken against unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal data.'
The attack is also a reminder to people to make sure they only give their card details to retailers they trust. Individuals can also take steps to try and minimize the affects on them such as thoroughly checking their card statements and subscribing to a credit checking service to alert them when someone tries to obtain credit in their name.
More details on security breach generally across Europe can be found by following the 'more details' link below.
Tagged as: eversheds | legal | identity fraud
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