Nets Alerts Local Banks Of Data Breach

Danish payment processor Nets notified local banks and international card schemes on Wednesday (Oct. 26) of a data breach that could have impacted 100,000 credit cards.

According to a report, Nets thinks the breach was linked to one internet retailer overseas. It has alerted local banks to replace the cards. “By replacing possibly compromised cards preemptively, banks and shops can save an amount in the triple-digit million (Danish crowns) range, which they could suffer in losses from trades made with stolen credit card information,” the company said in a statement. The report noted Nets is working with Visa and Mastercard to investigate the compromise. Jyske Bank has already said it will block and replace 7,000 cards.

The data breach comes at a time when businesses are seeing increased cyberthreats and attacks. In September, Yahoo announced a massive data breach that could end up impacting close to half a million accounts at the internet company. The breach comes at a bad time for Yahoo as it tries to close its deal to sell its core assets to Verizon Communications. But Yahoo isn’t the only company to feel the pain of a cyberattack in recent days. On Friday, a bunch of U.S. websites were taken down for a bit, including Twitter, Netflix and Spotify. The hack prompted the White House to get involved, with the Department of Homeland Security saying it hosted a conference call with 18 major communication service providers after the attack started and is developing a new set of “strategic principles” for securing internet-connected devices.

DHS said its National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center was working alongside companies, law enforcement and researchers to contend with the attacks that happened due to the expanding number of devices that can talk to the internet. These devices include webcams, appliances and even toys. Most of them have little in terms of security, making hacks that much easier. According to Fortune, several networks of compromised machines were programmed to attack big web infrastructure company Dyn last week, Dyn officials and security researchers said.