Hacker arrest shows card security flaws

       Consumers and companies are vulnerable to hackers and identity thieves even after US authorities arrested a man they said was a master hacker who stole 170 million credit and debit card numbers.
       Estimates on the total financial impact of breaches vary, but a study by Forrester Research put the cost at up to $305 (10,400 baht) per compromised record when noting the cost of upgrades, notifying customers and legal and marketing expenses.
       "Under our banking laws, it's the financial institutions that will be stuck paying for fraudulent use of credit cards.We have the consumers responsible for $50 and the rest winds up on the card issuer," said Joel Reidenberg, a professor at Fordham Law School who teaches privacy law.
       On Monday, three men were indicted on charges of stealing more than 130 million credit and debit card numbers in what US authorities said they believed was the largest hacking and identify theft case ever prosecuted in the United States.
       Former government informant Albert Gonzalez,28, in jail in connection with other hacking cases, has been accused of masterminding the theft. He was charged along with two Russians with conspiracy to gain unauthorised access to computers, to commit fraud in connection with computers and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
       Card numbers were stolen in those breaches from credit-card processor Heartland Payment Systems and retail chains 7-Eleven Inc and Hannaford Brothers Co, a unit of Belgium's Delhaize Group, prosecutors said. They said the men targeted two other corporations,which they did not name.
       Mr Gonzalez pleaded not guilty to last year's charges of hacking into the systems of several major retailers,including TJX Cos Inc. Prosecutors have said that 41 million numbers were stolen in the TJX case.
       "Charging this individual is a great development, but hacking and other forms of fraud are pervasive these days,"said Beth Givens, executive director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a nonprofit organisation in San Diego.
       Mr Gonzalez is accused of breaching computer networks of companies that have said they met tough standards set by the payment processing industry.
       His alleged crimes would account for a majority of compromised records,which Ms Givens' group estimates at around 263 million.