American Express card data exposed in third-party breach

American Express Co. has told an undisclosed number of cardholders that their account information may have been breached in a recent hacking of a merchant processor.

Current and previously issued American Express Card account numbers, expiration dates and customer names may have been compromised, AmEx stated in a notice filed last week with Massachusetts regulators.

“A third party service provider engaged by numerous merchants experienced unauthorized access to its system,” Anneke Covell, AmEx’s vice president, U.S. & AENB privacy, stated in the notice. “American Express owned or controlled systems were not compromised by this incident.”

AmEx said it’s actively monitoring the potentially impacted accounts for fraud, and stressed customers are not liable for fraudulent charges. The New York-based financial services company urged customers to review their accounts for fraudulent activity, sign up to get instant notifications of potential suspicious activity and to make sure their contact information is current.

 

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