News

PNC is 2nd bank to cancel ATM cards after hacker attack

February 19, 2003

PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- PNC Bank said  it was forced to deactivate some 16,000 of its ATM/debit bearing the Visa logo after being notified by Visa that the cards were compromised by a computer hacker.

According to a report in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the bank said it didn't know how many customers may have been affected. PNC has roughly 3 million customers who have ATM cards tied to the Visa brand, spokesman Pat McMahon said.

PNC canceled the 16,000 cards on Feb. 19 and began notifying affected customers by telephone, McMahon said. The bank is reissuing all of the cards.

A computer hacker stole some 8 million Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover account numbers nationwide earlier this month from a third-party merchant payment processor. While the card companies have declined to identify the processor, CardLine reported on Feb. 19 that it was Omaha, Neb.-based Data Processors International, Inc.

Both Visa and MasterCard have said that all card-issuing financial institutions affected by the problem had been notified, but wouldn't say how many had been hit.

On Feb. 14, Citizens Bank canceled between 8,000 and 10,000 customers' cards with the MasterCard logo after receiving word of the security breach from MasterCard's fraud unit. Roughly 2,500 Citizens customers in Pennsylvania and parts of New Jersey and Delaware were affected, Citizens said. (See related story Citizens Bank reissues ATM cards in wake of hacker attack)

CardLine reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Secret Service are investigating the incident.