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Story URL: http://www.silicon.com/financialservices/0,3800010322,39158448,00.htm

MasterCard security breach hits Morgan Stanley
But company still refuses to reveal scale or source of the credit card hack...

By Andy McCue

Published: Thursday 27 April 2006

Morgan Stanley customers in the UK are the latest to have been hit by a major security breach that has resulted in thousands of MasterCard credit card details being stolen by fraudsters.

silicon.com yesterday exclusively revealed how at least 2,000 MasterCard holders have had their credit card details compromised.

MasterCard notified card issuers of the breach last week and they have been calling affected customers to cancel their cards, close accounts and issue new cards and details.

The Clydesdale Bank is one of the issuers that has already admited its customers were affected and now silicon.com can reveal Morgan Stanley credit card holders have also been hit by the fraud.

One Morgan Stanley customer who contacted silicon.com said: "I was told it was because of advice of a security breach from MasterCard. When I asked what the suspicious activity was I was told that MasterCard was not giving details 'because it would be damaging to its reputation'."

A Morgan Stanley spokeswoman told silicon.com: "The breach is something that has affected lots of issuers not just us. MasterCard informed Morgan Stanley [about the breach] and we are taking action to contact all cardholders affected, shut their accounts and issue new cards."

Some Visa cardholders have also contacted silicon.com to say they have had their cards cancelled in the last week because of fraudulent activity on their account but Visa has so far been unable to confirm whether this is connected to the breach affecting MasterCard.

Speculation is now growing that the UK incident could be linked to a massive security breach in the US earlier this month which resulted in hundreds of thousands of card details and PIN numbers being compromised by hackers.

MasterCard has so far declined to comment on the scale or source of the credit card security breach beyond issuing a statement saying it took immediate action as soon as the breach was discovered.