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More Credit Card Numbers Exposed, Visa and MasterCard Tight-Lipped

by Tim Stevens on March 4, 2009 at 11:28 AM

More Credit Card Numbers Exposed, Visa and MC Not Saying HowIt was just a few weeks ago that the world learned of the millions of credit card accounts compromised by Heartland Payment, an account processing clearinghouse that had its networks infiltrated by hackers for months before anyone noticed. Now we have word of another breach, but this one is more mysterious. While both of the companies involved are reluctantly admitting that some cards were compromised, neither is saying how many have been affected or where the leak occurred.

The story, largely founded on rumors at that point, was first picked up by security blogger Steve Ragan, who posted about the leak and mentioned the lack of information being provided by Visa and MasterCard, the two companies apparently affected. Four days later, Visa confirmed the leak, but the company still refuses to indicate where the leak happened and how many accounts have been compromised.

So, right now, we're all in the dark regarding the details here, meaning, sadly, there's not much you can do, other than wait for a letter from your bank, indicating you're the lucky winner of a new credit card number. [From: USA Today]



Origins of Tech Names

    The Web site mental_floss put together a list covering the origins of 8 high-tech names, and it got us thinking about some of the other popular -- and oddly-named -- sites, software, and applications out there. Ever wonder where "facebook," "skype," or "delicious" came from? Read on!

    Facebook:
    The social-networking site was named after the student address book at Harvard, where Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg spent almost 2 years."

    Skype:
    The name for the Internet phone service is a mix of "Sky" and "peer-to-peer," though it doesn't really have anything to do with either term.

    Twitter:
    The name Twitter is inspired by bird speak -- brief and ongoing. No wonder the short, 140-word messages one posts on the social-networking/microblogging service are called "tweets."

    flickr:
    Photo-sharing site flickr was named largely by accident. Flickr co-founders Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake initially tried for "flicker.com," but the domain name was taken. Fake suggested 'flickr,' and the rest is history.

    bebo:
    Founded by Michael and Xochi Birch, Bebo, a popular social networking alternative to Facebook and Myspace, is an acronym for "Blog early, blog often."

    delicious:
    Joshua Schachter, founder of the well-known social-bookmarking site, used the .us domain to form the word "del.icio.us."

    ubuntu:
    Ubuntu, a version of the free, open-source UNIX-based operating system used in computers such as the eeePC and the Zonbu, gets its name from Zulu. It means "humanity to others."


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Tags: compromise, credit card, credit cards, CreditCard, CreditCards, hack, identity theft, IdentityTheft, security, top

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