Credit Card Data Breach at Barnes & Noble Stores
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and NICOLE PERLROTH October 23, 2012
WASHINGTON - Hackers have stolen credit card information for customers who shopped as recently as last month at 63 Barnes & Noble stores across the country, including stores in New York City, San Diego, Miami and Chicago, according to people briefed on the investigation.
The company discovered around Sept. 14 that the information had been stolen but kept the matter quiet at the Justice Department's request so the F.B.I. could determine who was behind the attacks, according to these people.
The information was stolen by hackers who broke into the keypads in front of registers where customers swipe their credit cards and enter their personal identification numbers, or PINs.
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If the crooks stole PIN numbers along with the "Credit Card" numbers, then they weren't targeting credit cards: they were targeting *DEBIT* cards, which often have higher per-day limits, and may lack the legal protections that credit card users enjoy.
I'm surprised that the New York Times would get the two types of card confused.
Bill Horne Moderator