Avivah Litan: Result of Michaels PIN Debit Scam Targets Issuing Banks with BIN (and PIN) Numbers

"It's not good news for the banks because they don't have good armor against it," - Avivah Litan, Gartner Research

Reuters is reportinig that those responsible for the theft of payment card data from Michael's sorted the data by their BIN's or Bank Identification Number, also known as IINs (Issuer Identification Number) to identify and then target said individual financial institutions "one-at-a-time" 

Reuters quotes Gartner reknowned data security expert Avivah Litan as saying: "

"They would knock the hell out of a bank. They've never done this before..."

By Ross Kerber and Maria AspanBOSTON/NEW YORK, June 1 (Reuters) - Thieves who stole payment card data from Michaels Stores Inc appear to have used a new method to maximize their take, a prominent data security expert said. Thieves apparently organized the scams they ran with stolen payment card numbers based on the banks that issued the cards, said Gartner Inc analyst Avivah Litan. By sorting the cards by their "BIN number" digits that indicate the issuing financial institution, they were able to..read more at Reuters

List of Bank Identification Numbers:

The first 6 digits of a credit card number are known as the Issuer Identification Number (IIN), previously known as bank identification number (BIN). These identify the institution that issued the card to the card holder.

The IIN ranges used by the major card schemes are:

Visa: Card numbers start with a 4.
MasterCard: Card numbers start with the numbers 51 through 55.
Diners Club: Card numbers begin with 36 or 38. (There are Diners Club cards that begin with 5. These are a joint venture between Diners Club and MasterCard, and are processed like a MasterCard.)
Discover: Card numbers begin with 6011 or 65.
JCB: Card numbers begin with 35.
American Express (Amex): Card numbers beginning with 34 or 37.