TechCentralTechCentral
    Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentral TechCentral
    NEWSLETTER
    • News

      Where to next for Dimension Data

      5 July 2022

      Zapper is said to seek fundraising at huge valuation

      5 July 2022

      Stage-5 load shedding to continue until Thursday

      5 July 2022

      Big step forward for Cell C as debt deal approved

      5 July 2022

      Eskom unions accept 7% wage offer

      5 July 2022
    • World

      Bitcoin hints at a bottom – but it may be different this time

      5 July 2022

      China, US war of words erupts over lunar missions

      5 July 2022

      Tether fails to calm jittery nerves

      4 July 2022

      EU to impose wide-ranging new rules on the crypto industry

      3 July 2022

      Crypto hedge fund Three Arrows files for bankruptcy

      3 July 2022
    • In-depth

      The bonfire of the NFTs

      5 July 2022

      The NFT party is over

      30 June 2022

      The great crypto crash: the fallout, and what happens next

      22 June 2022

      Goodbye, Internet Explorer – you really won’t be missed

      19 June 2022

      Oracle’s database dominance threatened by rise of cloud-first rivals

      13 June 2022
    • Podcasts

      How your organisation can triage its information security risk

      22 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E06 – ‘Apple Silicon’

      15 June 2022

      The youth might just save us

      15 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E05 – ‘Nvidia: The Green Goblin’

      8 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E04 – ‘The story of Intel – part 2’

      1 June 2022
    • Opinion

      South Africa can no longer rely on Eskom alone

      4 July 2022

      Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

      21 June 2022

      Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

      13 June 2022

      A proposed solution to crypto’s stablecoin problem

      19 May 2022

      From spectrum to roads, why fixing SA’s problems is an uphill battle

      19 April 2022
    • Company Hubs
      • 1-grid
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Amplitude
      • Atvance Intellect
      • Axiz
      • BOATech
      • CallMiner
      • Digital Generation
      • E4
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • IBM
      • Kyocera Document Solutions
      • Microsoft
      • Nutanix
      • One Trust
      • Pinnacle
      • Skybox Security
      • SkyWire
      • Tarsus on Demand
      • Videri Digital
      • Zendesk
    • Sections
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud computing
      • Consumer electronics
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Energy
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Motoring and transport
      • Public sector
      • Science
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home»News»Bank cards data breach: Pasa statement

    Bank cards data breach: Pasa statement

    News By Duncan McLeod15 October 2013
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email

    credit-card-640

    TechCentral revealed on Tuesday that South Africa’s banks have suffered tens of millions of rand in losses due to a major breach of customer card data by criminal syndicates that infected electronic point-of-sale (POS) devices using a variant of a malicious software tool called Dexter.

    The malware infected POS terminals in a wide range of fast-food retailers and restaurants, prompting the Payments Association of South Africa (Pasa) and banking risk information centre Sabric to involve the South African Police Service, Interpol and Europol in an investigation.

    Pasa has now issued a statement about the data breach, seeking to reassure banking clients that their money is safe. A full, slightly edited copy of the statement is pasted below. TechCentral’s original article is here.

    Pasa, international card schemes Visa and MasterCard, and South Africa’s major banks are aware of a data compromise at a number of South Africa’s restaurant chains and franchises.

    As a result of the compromise, card details were accessed by an unauthorised international organisation through custom-written virus software. Immediate steps have been taken to secure the relevant systems and to prevent further leakage of card details.

    The industry has taken immediate and proactive steps to identify the extent of the potential exposure, clean up confirmed sites with effective custom antimalware software and carefully monitor transactions on the cards involved in order to detect possible unusual activity.

    Pasa is working with the banks and the card schemes to implement immediate measures to block the potential exposure of card data and bring merchants to a state of full compliance to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards, or PCI DSS. There is certainly no need for concern by cardholders. It is important to be aware of the fact that the issuing and acquiring banks in the South African payments environment all have very well developed and sophisticated fraud and risk management systems in place and that monitoring of any heightened levels of potential fraud which might result from this would be a normal activity with no need for additional systems.

    Pasa and the acquiring banks have actively been working with the industry to ensure that all companies that process card transactions implement and comply with PCI DSS.

    It is left to individual banks and card issuers, however, to decide whether they would be contacting their customers with a view to replacing any cards that might have been exposed, or rather to place these cards on a heightened level of monitoring before any action is taken.

    There is no need for undue concern by cardholders. However, all card users should report any suspicious transactions to their banks for urgent investigation.

    Should fraudulent transactions be perpetrated on any of these cards as a result of the data compromise, cardholders would not be exposed to any losses – as is the case under normal circumstances.

    Cardholders who have any general concerns or are suspicious of any transactions appearing on their card statements or of which they are alerted though their SMS or e-mail “in-contact” service should contact their bank directly and immediately.

    Dexter Dexter malware Pasa Payments Association of South Africa
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous ArticleMonster N-Tune headphones: beastly bass
    Next Article HTC closes its SA office

    Related Posts

    Where to next for Dimension Data

    5 July 2022

    Zapper is said to seek fundraising at huge valuation

    5 July 2022

    Stage-5 load shedding to continue until Thursday

    5 July 2022
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Promoted

    Hot Ink certifies and diversifies to maintain competitive printing edge

    5 July 2022

    Increased flexibility with Dell Precision Mobile Workstations

    5 July 2022

    The 5 secrets of customer experience in the cloud era

    5 July 2022
    Opinion

    South Africa can no longer rely on Eskom alone

    4 July 2022

    Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

    21 June 2022

    Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

    13 June 2022

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2022 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.