Hacking Ring Nabbed by US Authorities

Slashdot notes the story of catching the members of a hacking ring that stole more than 40 million credit card and debit card numbers from retail organizations in the U.S.

Now charged by a Boston court with numerous crimes, including conspiracy, computer intrusion, fraud and identity theft, the group of eleven perpetrators allegedly hacked into nine major U.S. retailers. The ring is also said to have sold the customer information to criminals in the U.S. and Eastern Europe, who in turn, encoded numbers on the magnetic strips of bank cards and withdrew tens of thousands of dollars from ATMs.

Mike Maddison, head of security for consultancy Deloitte, said

"We have seen so many data breaches recently and they all compromised large amounts of data".

Maddison said consumers need to take more responsibility for their data, adding:

"They need to analyse their bank statements and call up credit check companies so they are aware of fraudsters trying to take up loan agreements."

See YAHOONews .