Of course, you may be wondering, what is a data breach, how do they happen, and what is Visa doing to help protect my payment information? To answer that, let’s start at the beginning.
What is a data breach?
A data breach is a security incident that reveals sensitive or protected data. It might involve a hacker, who’s penetrated a database. Or, it might involve an employee that’s accidentally released information on a web site. Or it could involve the theft of a laptop or hard drive.
The bottom line, with a data breach, information gets released that wasn’t ever intended for public release. And that information might be Social Security Numbers, email addresses, passwords, or payment card numbers. All of which could be used by identity thieves or cyber criminals.