The recent systems breach which occurred at US third-party processor CardSystems has led to around 6 000 South African Visa card numbers being exposed.
MasterCard remains tight-lipped as to how many of its local cardholders were exposed and the banks have yet to comment.
The hack that took place at CardSystems, a company that processes transactions on behalf of banks and merchants, compromised 40 million accounts worldwide.
However, Neil Hawkey, VP of risk management at Visa Africa, says the figures are inflated as the card numbers were on record for an extended period and many have expired or become invalid.
However, the cards that are still in use have been put on a watch list and the South African banks are monitoring the respective accounts, says Hawkey.
As yet, Visa doesn`t know of any losses from the active credit card accounts.
"Although the breach is a serious issue, the actual impact has been minimal," says Hawkey.
He was unable to say what, if anything, would happen to CardSystems, although he notes that Visa has certain security processes in place that allow for financial penalties for non-compliance.
Watch the phishers
BitDefender virus analysts have warned users about the impending appearance of malware using social engineering tricks, centred on the stolen Visa and MasterCard credit card numbers.
"We expect to see new virus variants and phishing attempts based on this case within the week," says local BitDefender distributor Grayford Holton.
BitDefender specialists have urged the public to remain wary of any requests to help recover stolen information.
However, Justin Stanford, CEO of NOD32 SA, doesn`t see this type of scam as anything new. "This is just a normal 419 Nigerian scam," he says.
"There really is nothing new or special about this one, and I have been receiving hundreds of these every day for the past five-odd years."
Related story:
SA credit cardholders on tenterhooks
Share