Credit-card hacker hits 13,000 in NZ

The credit card details of up to 13,000 New Zealanders have been hacked, leaving them vulnerable to fraud, in one of the world's biggest data security breaches.

The breach, which happened in the United States, is thought to have affected 40 million credit cards worldwide. About 22 million are Visa cards and 14 million are MasterCard.

Visa said yesterday 12,000 cards in New Zealand had been affected and more than 650 of them were at high risk of fraud.

Mastercard said it had advised banks to cancel 1000 cards, among 5560 potentially affected.

Several banks have promised to reissue cards to protect against fraud.

Major fraud is yet to be detected here but one bank says it has found minor fraudulent incidents that could be linked to the hacking.

MasterCard said on Friday that a hacker had infiltrated the network of US credit card transaction company CardSystems Solutions and accessed names, account numbers and expiry dates of credit cards.

The company said it notified banks after it learned about the breach late last month, but some banks here say they did not know until the weekend.

MasterCard said the breach affected cardholders who made transactions in the US or online with US-based merchants. Visa said it involved those who bought from American merchants between September last year and June this year - either in person, via the internet or over the phone.

Both companies said customers would not be liable for any fraudulent transactions.

Visa spokesman Andrew Woodward said 653 cards at high risk of fraud, because the data on their magnetic strips was hacked, had been cancelled.

The remainder of the 12,000 cards concerned were considered low-risk because only part of their data had been captured in the security breach.

Mr Woodward said banks would continue to monitor those cards.

MasterCard urged all credit card holders to monitor their statements.

Westpac is reissuing about 4000 cards as a precaution. Spokesman Ian Bonnar said 2000 Visa cards and slightly fewer MasterCards had been affected but the bank had found no fraudulent transactions.

BNZ has about 2800 affected cards. Spokesman Owen Gill said staff would contact all customers concerned and offer to replace the cards free of charge.

"It's precautionary, because we think the risk [of fraud] is relatively low for most of them," he said.

The bank had been monitoring the situation for several weeks after being alerted by an Australian bank but was confident the situation was under control.

ASB Bank is monitoring 3000 cards after learning about the fraud at the weekend. Spokesman Clayton Wakefield said nothing suspicious had been found.

National Bank spokesman Robert Reid said it believed the number of its cards affected was low.

Credit card alert

* Credit-card alert 40 million credit cards affected worldwide.
* 12,000 Visa cardholders in New Zealand affected.
* 1000 MasterCard cardholders in New Zealand affected.
* Westpac reissuing 4000 cards.
* BNZ offering to reissue 2800 cards if customers wish.
* ASB replaces 50 "high-risk" cards.