MasterCard hack spawns phishing attack

By John Leyden → More by this author

20 Jun 2005 11:21

Fresh bait

Fraudsters have been quick to launch phishing attacks in a bid to cash in on the publicity surrounding a security breach involving MasterCard International that may affect up to 40 million credit card holders. The crude and misspelled phishing attack, spotted by Secure Computing, is unlikely to fool many but illustrates how fraudsters are quick to latch onto current events in instigating security assaults.

MasterCard International is notifying member financial institutions of possible fraud risks following a security breach at CardSystems Solutions, a third party processor of payment card data. The breach of payment card data "potentially exposed more than 40 million cards of all brands to fraud", MasterCard warns. Approximately 13.9 million of these are MasterCard-branded cards. CardSystems discovered a "potential security incident" on 22 May and notified the FBI about the problem the next day but the breach only became public on Friday (17 June) just a day before it was exploited in phishing attacks. These attacks made no specific reference to the security breach so it looks as if fraudsters used "one they'd prepared earlier". ®

From: Master Bank [master@masterbank.com] To: Subject: **Your Mastercard online Confirmation**
Dear User, During our regular update and verification of the accounts, we couldn't verify your current information. Either your information has changed or it is incomplete. If the account information is not updated to current information within 5 days then, your access will be restricted.

go to this link below or copy and paste it on your addresse tool bar.

http://www.mastercard-new-register.com

***Please Do Not Reply To This E-Mail As You Will Not Receive A Response***

Thank you Accounts Managent