There is always something to be learned from adverse circumstances, and the Heartland data breach is certainly no exception. This incident provides lessons for credit unions, processors and the individuals committing the fraud. The tens of millions of card accounts that were compromised touched nearly every financial institution, giving everyone a chance to evaluate how they reacted, how their processes worked and how to better respond in the future.

As processors, we are constantly monitoring authorization activity to protect our clients from fraud loss. The Heartland data breach only strengthened our resolve to remain vigilant in our efforts to deter the thieves at every possible moment. For example, our 24/7 monitoring of transaction and testing activity coupled with the sharing of our fraud intelligence helped the industry to identify the Heartland breach and ultimately stop the theft of data.

For credit unions, the breach reinforced the critical nature of a compromise mitigation plan. It was clear from the credit unions we talked with in the wake of the announcement of the breach that those prepared to manage this type of risk were much more in control than those that were not prepared. A compromise mitigation plan can be simple, but it needs to address a number of factors.