The Internal Revenue Service does not always properly authenticate the identity of taxpayers calling its toll-free assistance lines before providing them with confidential tax account information, according to a new government report. The report, by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, found that taxpayers who call the IRS-toll-free lines are at risk of having…
Category: Of Note
Heartland breach expenses pegged at $140M — so far
Jaikumar Vijayan reports: The costs to Heartland Payment Systems Inc. from the massive data breach that it disclosed in January 2009 appear to be steadily adding up. Quarterly financial results released by Heartland last week show that the card payment processor has accrued $139.4 million in breach-related expenses. The figure includes a settlement totaling nearly…
Visa Warns of Fraud Attack from Criminal Group
Brian Krebs reports: Visa is warning financial institutions that it has received reliable intelligence that an organized criminal group plans to attempt to move large amounts of fraudulent payments through a merchant account in Eastern Europe, possibly as soon as this weekend. In an alert sent to banks, card issuers and processors this week, Visa…
Heartland Breach: Consumer Settlement Proposed
Linda McGlasson reports: A proposed settlement of the consumer class action suit brought against payments processor Heartland Payments System got preliminary approval from a U.S. District Court judge in late April. The proposed settlement would create a $4 million pool to pay consumers and settle the case. […] In a “fairness hearing” on April 27,…
Stolen Millennium Medical Management Resources drive contained PII and PHI on 180,111
Health records belonging to patients were stolen in a break-in at a suburban medical billing company. Patients are now being notified about the security breech (sic). Police tell ABC7 the records were on a portable hard drive and stolen from the Westmont office of Millennium Medical Management Resources. It happened back in February. The company…
(RBS follow-up) Ex-cop admits role in $4.2m ATM heist
Patsy Moy reports: Two Hong Kong men using fake bank cards produced by US-based hackers withdrew HK$4.2 million [USD $541,024.47 — Dissent] from various ATM machines in less than eight hours, the District Court heard yesterday. Cheung Hoi-wing, 40, a transport worker and former police officer, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy after admitting…