The Letterville BullBoard: Hacker

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Posted by Wayne Webb (Member # 1124) on :

Ever get one of these notices?
In my e-mail this morning:

> Dear ST Media Group Customer:
>
> We regret to report that a computer hacker gained access to a
> portion of the stmediagroup.com server containing order logs from
> our online bookstore. It appears that your credit card information
> was accessed. This unlawful act was discovered Feb. 12, at which
> time the logging feature was disabled, a security patch implemented
> and all sensitive information removed from our server.
>
> We urge you to contact your card issuer as soon as possible and
> inform them that there is the possibility that your card information
> has been stolen. More information is available at:
> http://www.gofso.com/Premium/LE/06_le_ic/fg/fg-credit_rights.html
>
> We also urge you to scrutinize all charges on your credit card
> occurring after Dec. 21 to ensure they are legitimate purchases by
> you or persons authorized by you. If there are any unauthorized
> charges against your card please inform both the card issuer and ST
> Media Group International.
>
> ST Media Group deeply regrets any inconvenience this may cause, and
> hopes this notification will ensure you are not wrongly charged. We
> have contacted the Internet Service Provider through which this
> unauthorized access occurred and are pursuing all practical methods
> to identify and prosecute any person(s) involved.
>
> If you have any additional questions or concerns, contact John
> Tymoski, Director of ST Online, 800-925-1110, ext. 374.
>
> Best Regards,
>
> John Tymoski
> Director ST Online

Posted by Rick Sacks (Member # 379) on :

Not being real savvy, I just assume that firewall protection is designed to prevent this.

Posted by Signs by Shawn (Member # 426) on :

I got the same email, just wondering what the hell I might of bought from that site???

we'll see, last year our card was stolen from another site and had a $10 charge from russia on it! This is another reaon to always remember not to use your debit card like a credit card, the protection is NOT the same!!!

Shawn

Posted by Shane French (Member # 2098) on :

I got that too...

What I want to know is why they were storing my credit card info, I sure didn't ask them to.

Shawn, does your debit card have a mastercard or visa logo? My check-card has the same protections as a visa does.

Posted by Wayne Webb (Member # 1124) on :

My card was an American Express and, fortunately, that account has been closed for several months. But, it does concern me to know that some of my other active credit card numbers may be saved on other suppliers' servors.

Posted by Kimberly Zanetti (Member # 2546) on :

Hate to be the bearer of bad news but anyone who paid for their Signs of the Times subsciption with a credit card might have a problem.

Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :

Any time you order online from a company that has real-time credit card processing on their site, your information is stored on the server.

There is no 100% guarantee that no one's going to break in and take that information, it's just too complicated of a task because of the constant security holes that are found in software every day and firewalls arent fool-proof either.

If it makes you feel better, there are books available at any bookstore that document all these security holes and how to exploit them. The book is written for security developers, but naturally anyone can get them.

That being said, you are still safer shopping online with a credit card than you are using a credit card at a restaurant where that 18 year old waiter runs out of view with your card!

Debit cards are no better than credit cards, in fact if there are fraudulent charges on a debit card, most of the time they are not recoverable. The banks say they are but when you actually need to test it, WRONG!!

Posted by PKing (Member # 337) on :

IF you use a credit card over the internet for ANY!reason at all.
You should take into consideration this might happen.

I have never had a promblem ordering the SAME object off the internet by sending a money order!

Posted by Shane French (Member # 2098) on :

hmm, interesting. Well, I'm not sure who to believe here, but in any event, thanks for the heads-up. Guess I'll have to start using only my regular credit-card to place orders on the net.

The ironic thing is that the credit card number they have for me is my paypal debit card. It will be interesting to see what they try to purchase with the $3.16 I have in my paypal account.

-shane

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