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Heartland Confirms Multiple Govt. Probes

Written by Evan Schuman
February 25th, 2009

Multiple federal units are investigating the Heartland data breach, company CFO Robert Baldwin told investors Tuesday (Feb. 25). Among them are the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).

Although the specific details surrounding the breach are still unclear, it has now impacted more than 500 financial institutions, according to Bank Info Security, and resulted in at least three arrests of people accused of using some of the data taken. It’s not clear precisely what the Feds are investigating or whether they are even involved in the same probe. The SEC might be looking at early CEO stock sales while Justice could be looking to catch more suspects, and both Justice and OCC might be simply trying to better understand the relative security of payment systems today.

Posted in IT Strategy/Industry, Payment Systems, Security/Fraud
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