Experts Weigh the Impact of Massive Card Fraud Indictments
Federal authorities have announced indictments against four Russians and a Ukrainian for their roles in a seven-year cybertheft scheme that stole the information of 160 million payment cards and resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in losses. The hackers face 35-year sentences and more than $1 million in fines, but security experts remain uncertain whether the indictments will do anything to fight back the tide of digital payment card theft. Former FBI assistant director Shawn Henry believes the indictments will serve as a deterrent to other cybercriminals. However, Information Law Group co-founder David Navetta and Aite Group analyst Shirley Inscoe say criminals will remain undaunted. Navetta expects criminals to continue to seek out payment card information, especially that stored in the databases of payment processors such as those targeted by the recently indicted hackers. However, Navetta also notes that “increasingly, the focus has been on widespread, scalable, and automated attacks on the tens of thousands of smaller, less sophisticated merchants whose security is weak, who have common vulnerabilities, and who are viewed as easy targets.” Navetta says the payment card community will have to come together to collectively address the issue of card theft.
From “Will Indictments Curb Card Fraud?”
BankInfoSecurity.com (07/26/13) Kitten, Tracy