Incident: Security breach at Sam's Club exposes credit card data

From Computerworld:

Security breach at Sam's Club exposes credit card data - Computerworld

DECEMBER 12, 2005 (COMPUTERWORLD) - Sam's Club, a division of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., is investigating a security breach that has exposed credit card data belonging to an unspecified number of customers who purchased gas at the wholesaler's stations between Sept 21 and Oct. 2. In a brief statement released Dec. 2, the Bentonville, Ark.-based company said it was alerted to the problem by credit card issuers who reported that customers were complaining of fraudulent charges on their statements.

It's still not clear how the data was obtained, according to the statement. But "electronic systems and databases used inside its stores and for Samsclub.com are not involved," the company said.

Sam's Club is currently working with both Visa International Inc. and MasterCard International Inc. to investigate the breach. The company also has notified the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Arkansas and the U.S. Secret Service .

Sam's Club officials didn't respond to calls for comment.

In a statement, Visa said it has alerted all of the affected financial institutions, asked them to provide independent fraud-monitoring services to affected customers and requested that they issue new cards as needed.