I'm not so sure it's that simple... People were aware of it.
Um .. but *which* 40mil was it? Am I one of them? Hearing that 40mil
random people got nicked is one thing .. me getting a letter from MBNA
another.
Mastercard/Visa certianly know .. and so do some member banks, because
some of them (in Australia, IIRC) replaced their cards proactively.
Their "logic" behind this is that their "zero liability due to fraud"
clauses make it illogical to even care about compromised account
numbers .. but anyone that's tried to contest a charge (because most
don't let you do it online like AMEX does) .. can attest to what a
major PITA that is (certified mail, etc.).
One would hear about such loss from publicly traded companies,
similar to
the 4% loss in Q2/2005 due to the Wendy's chili case.
And hopefully .. once they go public .. they'll be held a bit more
accountable.
~Mike.
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