Released: October 09, 2009

Cyberthieves find workplace networks are easy pickings

Source: Byron Acohido, USA Today

It took only a modicum of skill for a cybergang to steal 94 million credit and debit card payment records from the TJX retail chain — and follow that up by hauling in 130 million records from credit card processor Heartland Payment Systems.

Court records reveal that those record-setting break-ins were almost too easy. Even more surprising: The thieves were able to take their sweet time extracting the data, in each case going undetected for more than a year.

What happened to TJX and Heartland was not unusual. And details unveiled in the prosecution of gang members involved in both thefts have shed fresh light on a business truism demanding more scrutiny: Workplace networks have turned out to be much more porous and difficult to defend than anyone ever anticipated.

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