Following previous announcements from Visa and Mastercard, electronic credit card processor Global Payments Inc. acknowledged late Friday that its system was breached earlier this year.
Global Payments announced via press release that a portion of its processing system had been compromised in early March and that company credit card data “may have been accessed.” The release, issued by Amy Corn, the company’s Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Communications, claims Global Payments immediately contacted information security experts along with federal law enforcement to “minimize cardholder impact” and is continuing its investigation into the matter.
Visa and Mastercard issued statements earlier today that a breach at a third-party “entity” might have compromised account data and that they were also investigating.
A subsequent report from the Wall Street Journal first implicated the Atlanta-based company in the breach earlier today. Soon after, Global Payments immediately halted its trading in New York and saw its stock dip 9.1 percent to $47.50, according to Bloomberg.
It’s not known yet how many cardholders could be at risk. The WSJ reports tens of thousands could have been compromised while Krebsonsecurity.com reports the breach could wind up affecting more than 10 million.
