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Company to Provide Details Next Week Surrounding Security Breach
OLYMPIA – Attorney General Rob McKenna issued the following statement regarding developments today in the security breach at CardSystems Solutions, Inc.:
“Officials from the Washington Attorney General’s Office met today at our offices in Olympia with representatives from CardSystems Solutions, including President and CEO John Perry. CardSystems representatives were cooperative and forthcoming in discussing the events surrounding the recent security breach at the company.
“We had a productive meeting and have requested additional information from the company. Our goal is to determine exactly how and what data was compromised, how the circumstances may have impacted specific cardholders and what steps can be taken to prevent these incidents from occurring in the future. The company has agreed to provide further details by next week.
“We will be evaluating the information and consulting with Attorneys General in the other states over the next few weeks before determining what course of action is in the best interest of consumers.”
Background:
The National Association of Attorneys General sent a letter June 28 to the senior vice president and legal counsel for CardSystems, demanding the company inform all consumers affected by its recent security breach. The letter, proposed and authored by McKenna, was signed by the attorneys general of 44 states, the District of Columbia, and American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico.
McKenna also sent a June 20 letter to CardSystems requesting information specific to Washington state consumers.
CardSystems processes credit card and other payments for banks and merchants. Hackers reportedly installed a rogue computer program that enabled them to download data on nearly 240,000 of the 40 million accounts in CardSystems’ system. MasterCard announced the breach in June of this year. The data reportedly did not contain Social Security numbers or driver's license data.
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For more information contact:
Kristin Alexander, Public Information Officer, at (206) 464-6432 or via e-mail at KristinA1@atg.wa.gov.