Computer Trojan Horse Steals Credit Card Details From Hotel Reception Software SOURCE: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscent...rd_details_from_hotel_reception_software.html That's a negative sign of our times!
That's always been the Achilles heel of credit card purchasing... it's not you and your cards, but where you use them. It's been happening since people used to steal carbon paper from retailer garbage cans, old receipts from ATMs and stores that stupidly had the entire account number, etc. Then people started targeting electronic point of sales... skimmers at the ATM or gas stations, etc. It was only a matter of time before someone went after hotel stations... they get a significant amount of business, often from traveling customers that wouldn't notice a billing issue for days -- if at all. A smart hacker would take the "Superman III" approach (or "Office Space" if that's your generation ) and instead of collecting all this data would just tack on a few cents to the final bill. Even the most observant of frequent travelers would probably have a problem spotting a discrepancy of say $1 surreptitiously added to the tax portion of their final bill.
Some folks who steal credit card numbers do this. They'll make a small purchase first to see if the number is valid and whether the owner notices. If they don't then the thieves will make larger purchases.
Nothing to see here, TJX set the bar too high for any other breach to be of any consequence, relatively speaking
