Posted 6/18/2005 05:07:00 PM by Douglas

Master the possibilities of identity theft.

Credit card users, don't fret. Only a small fraction of the 13.9 million credit cards accounts at MasterCard exposed to possible fraud were considered at high risk, the company said Saturday.

MasterCard International Inc. spokeswoman Jessica Antle said only about 68,000 of its card holders are at "higher levels of risk." And while those 68,000 should closely examine their credit or debit card accounts, customers do not have to worry about identity theft, Antle said.

MasterCard announced the breach Friday and said it was traced to Atlanta-based CardSystems Solutions Inc., which processes credit card and other payments for banks and merchants. The incident appears to be the largest yet involving financial data in a series of security breaches affecting valuable consumer data at major financial institutions and data brokers.

Only about 13.9 million of the 40 million credit card accounts that may have been exposed to fraud were MasterCard accounts. It was not immediately clear how many of the other accounts were considered at high risk.

These fucking clowns take 3% of every transaction and this is the best they can do? Time to dig deep, suckers, and pay for your mistakes.