Security Checks Out

OK. You’ve all been reading about the recent security breaches which are exposing sensitive financial and other non-public personally identifiable information to potential disclosure—in some cases actual release and compromise of that information. Well it turns out that in one area—the retailer cases involving Polo (Ralph Lauren), DSW (Shoe Warehouse) and others—are all being traced back to software that merchants use to process credit, charge and debit transactions. The problem, it seems, stems from the fact that the hidden coding that resides on the magnetic strip of our plastic money and that is supposed to authenticate and provide a degree of transactional security in processing payment is being retained by the merchants’ systems, rather than being immediately deleted and cleansed from these systems once the transaction is approved and complete. Hackers, learning of this vulnerability, were quick to attempt to break into these merchant systems and “steal” the codes, in many cases enabling them to create counterfeit plastic and compromise personal information of the cardholder in the process. In one case, BJ’s Wholesale Club is being sued by banks and credit unions because hackers made off with customer’s credit card numbers, and BJ’s has decided to sue IBM, whose software allegedly stored the numbers in computer logs. In legal papers filed in response to the suit, IBM not only claims there is no proof the stolen card numbers came from BJ’s systems, but it also claims that its contract with BJ’s disclaims liability for damages because of security breaches. OK, all of you go check your software contracts. Now.