Post-breach, Heartland plans aggressive encryption project
Heartland Payment Systems plans to protect its credit- and debit-card processing network with an end-to-end encryption system that it will begin rolling out with its merchants in the third quarter.
After acknowledging in January that it suffered a data breach, Heartland today "is basically leading the way for the rest of the industry," says Gartner analyst Avivah Litan, noting that Heartland's plan for an end-to-end encryption system will be the first effort of its kind in the United States.
The system will be based on hardware and software that Heartland is spending millions of dollars to develop with help from soon-to-be-announced technology partners. Heartland has not yet publicly released the technical specifications.
Heartland processes about 100 million card transactions each month, and it's not yet clear exactly how much fraud was committed as a result of the breach, though Visa and MasterCard, as well as some banks, have indicated fraud can be traced back to the break-in. (Heartland may discuss the breach impact in more detail in its financial earnings call Thursday.)
Sign up for ITworld's Daily newsletter
Follow ITworld on Twitter @IT_world
On Twitter now
security
Powered by Twitter
Esther Schindler
If the comments are ugly, the code is ugly
claird
SVG a graphics format for 21st century
pasmith
Take Chrome OS for a test spin
Sandra Henry-Stocker
Solaris Tip: Have Your Files Changed Since Installation?
jfruh
Android fragments vs. the iPhone monolith
mikelgan
What Gizmodo missed about the Pro WX Wireless USB disk drive
Where Google Chrome security fails: the password
I heard mention that the Chrome OS will have some sort of encryption available a la bitlocker. If it's possible to encrypt personal data using another password or key, then it may have potential for very secure data.... And Ubuntu has an 'encrypt home directory' option, perhaps google should follow suit.
- Dann
Join the conversation here
Quick, practical advice for IT pros. Made fresh daily.
Want to cash in on your IT savvy? Send your tip to tips@itworld.com. If we post it, we'll send you a $25 Amazon e-gift card.
