Although the use of the Internet to buy and sell online has
introduced a slew of security concerns within the payment services
industry, Visa USA president and CEO John Philip Coghlan insists that
technology is the solution to combating fraud -- not the cause of it.
Coghlan also pointed out during Visa's security summit in Washington,
D.C., Thursday that data breaches are neither random nor inevitable if
proper security measures are taken.
The TJX data breach
"was a stark reminder to all of us that such events can have vast reach
and consequences," Coghlan said. Such breaches create mistrust and can
undermine efforts make to build a good brand image. But, he made clear,
"the majority of compromises come from storage of prohibited data and using vulnerable systems to process data."
TJX, the parent company of retailers T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods,
and others, made headlines in February when it revealed an attack on
its systems had resulted in the theft of customer information.
Just as the headlines were threatening to die down, TJX announced a few
weeks later that intrusions into its system actually began as early as
July 2005, rather than beginning in May 2006 as the company had
originally reported.
While the exact nature of the TJX data breach has not yet been
revealed, in general, financial information is stolen in a number of
ways, including the physical theft of a wallet, checkbook, or credit
card; theft of information from one's home from friends, relatives, or
in-home employees; phishing messages that trick people into divulging information to fraudsters; hacks, viruses, and spyware on a PC or ATM machine; and a corrupt business employee with access to your records.
But data theft is not random. Instead, it's perpetrated against
businesses with the weakest security and the most valuable information,
Coughlin said Thursday, adding, "More than 80% of all dollars lost come
from 20% of fraudulent transactions."
3:39:19 PM 
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