First Direct reissues cards after breach
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.First Direct, the UK telephone and internet bank, is reissuing credit cards to thousands of its customers after fears that they may have been affected by a major security breach at a US card-payments company in May.
In a letter to its card customers last week, the company said it was concerned that a number of its clients may have been affected by the breach at the Arizona-based company, Card Systems Solutions. The breach is believed to have put about 40 million cardholders across the globe at risk of fraud. It is thought that several other UK banks may be forced to follow First Direct's lead.
CardSystems says it identified the breach at the end of May and reported the incident to the FBI, the US security service. Most of the cards affected were those using the Mastercard system. However, a small number of American Express and Discovery cards are also thought to have been at risk.
First Direct said that only a small number of its cardholders were affected, but it wanted to ensure that these customers were fully protected.
The incident comes a few months after Citibank admitted that data relating to about 1,000 of its clients had been stolen via one of its call centres in India. HSBC, the parent company of First Direct, was also affected by a data breach affecting about 180,000 US customers in April.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments