Verifone Investigates Breach that Targeted U.S. Merchants
Terminal maker Verifone says it’s investigating a breach that involved an attempt to get into its corporate network and targeted U.S. merchants. The company, which sells point-of-sale technology, says the Jan. 17 incident has not resulted in any misuse of data.
“Verifone’s information security team identified evidence of this very limited cyber intrusion into our corporate network in January 2017, and we proactively notified Visa, Mastercard and other card schemes,” Verifone says. The apparent attack targeted approximately 24 U.S. gas stations and convenience stores, though “our payment networks and Verifone’s payment terminals remained secure and fully operational,” the company adds.
Verifone has since beefed up its security and is working to determine what information the attackers were after. So far, though, “there have been no adverse events or misuse of any data resulting from this incident,” Verifone says.
In an effort to gain more business at gas stations, Verifone in October said it had adopted and deployed a new mobile API standard designed to better tie together payment and loyalty applications for customers at gas stations and convenience stores.
Earlier this year, Pay Award winners FIS and Verifone said they would work together to make it easier (and instantaneous) for consumers to redeem loyalty points, some $16 billion of which are left on the table annually in the U.S.
U.S. data breaches hit an all-time high of 1,093 in 2016, according to a recent report from CyberScout and the Identity Theft Resource Center. That represents a 40 percent increase from the previous year.
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