Heartland Payroll ServicesSM Named to Plain Dealer’s “Top Workplaces 2010” List

Distinction Awarded to Top 75 Workplaces in the Cleveland Area

PRINCETON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Heartland Payroll Services, a division of Heartland Payment Systems^® (NYSE: HPY), the nation’s fifth largest payments processor, has been named to The Plain Dealer’s “Top Workplaces 2010” list. The "Top Workplaces" identifies the leading workplaces in the Cleveland area based upon the opinions of its employees.

Approximately 106 of Heartland Payroll Services’ 124 employees completed detailed questionnaires about their jobs, management and work environment — citing the company's mission, ethics and positive culture as reasons why Heartland should be named one of Cleveland's top employers.

Mark Strippy, executive director of Heartland Payroll Services, commented, “We’re extremely grateful to be empowered by such a strong, committed and talented workforce. It goes without question that our employees are our greatest asset, and we strive to create an environment where they can flourish. We are pleased to be recognized as one of the best employers in the region and for our commitment to creating job opportunities in the Greater Cleveland area.”

Companies, nonprofits and government agencies in 11 counties in Northeast Ohio that employ at least 50 people were eligible to participate in the survey. The survey measured six different categories, including: direction, management, execution, workplace conditions, career opportunities and pay/benefits.

Heartland Payroll Services delivers comprehensive payroll capabilities including reporting, compliance, POS integration and workers’ compensation programs to businesses of all sizes and kinds nationwide. For more information about Heartland and available career opportunities, please visit HeartlandPaymentSystems.com.

About Heartland Payment Systems

Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. (NYSE: HPY), the fifth largest payments processor in the United States, delivers credit/debit/prepaid card processing, gift marketing and loyalty programs, payroll,check management and related business solutions to more than 250,000 business locations nationwide. A FORTUNE 1000 company, Heartland is the founding supporter of The Merchant Bill of Rights, a public advocacy initiative that educates merchants about fair credit and debit card processing practices.

The company is also a leader in the development of end-to-end encryption technology designed to protect cardholder data, rendering it useless to cybercriminals. For more information, please visitHeartlandPaymentSystems.com, MerchantBillOfRights.org, CostOfABurger.com and E3secure.com.

Contacts

Vault Communications

Leanne Scott Brown

610-455-2742

LBrown@VaultCommunications.com

or

Heartland Payment Systems

Nancy Gross

888-798-3131 x2202

Nancy.Gross@e-hps.com

Permalink: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100629005268/en/Heartland-Payroll-ServicesSM-Named-Plain-Dealer%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9CTop

Heartland Payment Systems® Installs E3™ Terminals at 1,020 Merchants since May 24 Launch of Its End-to-End Encryption Solution

Business owners take action to protect cardholder data, embrace ease of use of Heartland’s end-to-end-encryption terminals, no-processing-fee approach to security and warranty

PRINCETON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Heartland Payment Systems (NYSE: HPY), the nation’s fifth largest payments processor, has installed its E3 terminals at 1,020 merchants since commercially launching the industry-leading end-to-end encryption technology on May 24 at the 2010 National Restaurant Association Hotel-Motel Show in Chicago. E3 technology is designed to protect cardholder credit and debit card data, rendering it useless to cyber criminals.

“Card Payment Security for the Small Merchant”

“There has been much talk in the payments industry about security solutions, and many have questioned how actively owners of small and mid-sized businesses would be willing to participate in the movement to secure cardholder data,” said Bob Carr, Heartland’s chairman and chief executive officer. “The fact that 1,020 merchants — most of whom own and/or operate these kinds of businesses and represent 118 different merchant category codes — have purchased E3 terminals in such a short timeframe demonstrates their commitment to protecting their establishments and their consumers. This is also a good indication of the widespread adoption of E3 by a diverse marketplace of merchants — and the engagement of our sales organization as 585 Heartlanders were responsible for these sales over the past month.”

Heartland is committed to making the highest degree of security available to all merchants — regardless of their size. As such, the company doesn’t charge additional processing fees or “taxes” for its state-of-the-art encryption equipment and software.

E3 terminals feature layers of security, employing both tamper-resistant hardware and AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) encryption, the most secure encryption algorithm available. E3 encrypts all Track 1 and 2 data read from the card’s magnetic stripe or manually entered so merchants never have access to sensitive card data and never risk storing card numbers or transmitting them through their systems or networks. E3 also securely automates the process of changing the encryption keys that convert sensitive account information to encrypted data.

E3 is easy and cost-effective to implement. There are no changes to a merchant’s daily routine or the speed of transactions — and no large equipment investment. Merchants purchase an E3 terminal or magnetic stripe reader/wedge (for PC-based payment applications) at — or below — the prices of standard, less-secure processing equipment on the market today. E3 terminals include EMV/chip card technology capabilities — which may be coming to the United States.

“EMV will likely be coming to the US as a result of demand from young people wanting to use embedded NFC chips in their cell phones to make contactless payments,” Carr predicts. “An unintended consequence of smartphones is that they will serve as the most secure payment form factor: contactless EMV payments authenticated with a PIN. The risk of accepting electronic payments will come off the backs of the merchant community and be placed firmly with the consumer — just like with cash and PIN debit. Heartland is investigating contactless EMV as we strive to continually raise the bar on payment security. As such, we recommend business owners not upgrade to any new equipment that does not contemplate contactless EMV in the future.”

Keith Primeau, store owner of Bain’s Deli and several other food establishments in the Philadelphia region, upgraded to E3 and was one of its first users.

“As the owner of several businesses, I recognize the importance of protecting my customers’ data,” he commented. “E3 does that without hampering our operations — or charging extra fees. E3 also helps me address PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliance regulations. It has a lot of benefits for both me and my customers, yet is extremely simple to implement with no changes to our daily routine or speed of transactions.”

Steve Elefant, chief information officer at Heartland, concluded, “Additionally, merchants are protected by Heartland’s “E3 End-to-End Encryption Warranty” which — in the unlikely event of a data breach using E3 — will reimburse a merchant’s breach-related fines. All of these benefits offer significant relief to card-accepting businesses.”

For more information on E3 technology, access to a new payments security blog — “The E3 Blog” — and “Card Payment Security for the Small Merchant,” a white paper written by Mercator Advisory Group’s George Peabody, visit E3secure.com or HeartlandPaymentSystems.com.

About Heartland Payment Systems

Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. (NYSE: HPY), the fifth largest payments processor in the United States, delivers credit/debit/prepaid card processing, gift marketing and loyalty programs, payroll,check management and related business solutions to more than 250,000 business locations nationwide. Heartland is the founding supporter of The Merchant Bill of Rights, a public advocacy initiative that educates merchants about fair credit and debit card processing practices. For more information, please visit HeartlandPaymentSystems.com, MerchantBillOfRights.org,CostOfABurger.com and E3secure.com.

Secure POS Vendor Alliance Announces New Leadership

Secure POS Vendor Alliance Announces New Leadership On the Heels of Its One-Year Anniversary

Founding members VeriFone, Ingenico and Hypercom rotate appointed managing committee positions within rapidly-growing global payment security organization

ATLANTA – April 22, 2010 – The Secure POS Vendor Alliance (SPVA), a non-profit business organization founded by Hypercom (NYSE: HYC), Ingenico S.A. (EURONEXT: ING) and VeriFone (NYSE: PAY) announced today that TK Cheung, vice president global quality & security, Hypercom, will assume the position of SPVA chairman of the board with Paul Rasori, senior vice president, global marketing, VeriFone, stepping in as vice chairman and CTO and Christophe Dolique, executive vice president, global marketing & transaction services, Ingenico, serving as secretary/treasurer. Bob Carr, CEO, Heartland Payment Systems, will continue to serve as associate member director, an elected position.

According to the SPVA’s bylaws, founding members share the three officer positions for six years and have certain veto rights, including areas such as amendment of bylaws and proposed spending and ratification of a proposed standard, guideline or best practices.

“I look forward to serving the SPVA as chairman during this critical period within the payments industry,” said TK Cheung, SPVA chairman. “With use of card-based payment options on the rise, it will be increasingly important to facilitate a common understanding and acceptance of security requirements and standards.”

Since the SPVA’s inception in April 2009, the organization has united industry experts and attracted almost 20 leading payment companies that seek to have a voice within the world of secure payments and help shape its future through vital Technical Working Groups through which SPVA members can contribute to acquire first-hand knowledge of current security threats. At least two white papers are scheduled to be released this year to help guide and define security solutions. The organization also recently announced its Lab Network, a group of labs that participate with SPVA members, prospective members and TWGs on security evaluations of the SPVA implementation guidelines.

Membership is open to all payment industry stakeholders. The SPVA encourages general membership among all vendors that develop secure POS payment systems, and associate membership among organizations who sell or utilize products or solutions that interact with secure POS payment devices: retailers, acquirers, software vendors, ECR vendors, banks and other standard setting associations.

To learn more about the SPVA and benefits of membership, visit www.spva.org.

###

About Secure POS Vendor Alliance (www.spva.org)

The Secure POS Vendor Alliance (SPVA) is a non-profit organization, founded by Hypercom (NYSE: HYC), Ingenico S.A. (EURONEXT: ING) and VeriFone (NYSE: PAY), that works with the multiple stakeholders of the payment value chain. Its aim is to develop an end-to-end security framework and to enhance security elements of payment solutions which protect cardholder information and defend merchants and acquirers against security breaches, to help reduce fraud and lower risk for all electronic payment stakeholders.

Editorial Contacts:

Carol McEntee/Lindsay Durfee

SPVA

404.816.2037

678.640.7822 Mobile

cmcentee@cookerly.com

lindsay@cookerly.com

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Secure POS Vendor Alliance Announces New Leadership

Secure POS Vendor Alliance Announces New Leadership On the Heels of Its One-Year Anniversary

Founding members VeriFone, Ingenico and Hypercom rotate appointed managing committee positions within rapidly-growing global payment security organization

ATLANTA – April 22, 2010 – The Secure POS Vendor Alliance (SPVA), a non-profit business organization founded by Hypercom (NYSE: HYC), Ingenico S.A. (EURONEXT: ING) and VeriFone (NYSE: PAY) announced today that TK Cheung, vice president global quality & security, Hypercom, will assume the position of SPVA chairman of the board with Paul Rasori, senior vice president, global marketing, VeriFone, stepping in as vice chairman and CTO and Christophe Dolique, executive vice president, global marketing & transaction services, Ingenico, serving as secretary/treasurer. Bob Carr, CEO, Heartland Payment Systems, will continue to serve as associate member director, an elected position.

According to the SPVA’s bylaws, founding members share the three officer positions for six years and have certain veto rights, including areas such as amendment of bylaws and proposed spending and ratification of a proposed standard, guideline or best practices.

“I look forward to serving the SPVA as chairman during this critical period within the payments industry,” said TK Cheung, SPVA chairman. “With use of card-based payment options on the rise, it will be increasingly important to facilitate a common understanding and acceptance of security requirements and standards.”

Since the SPVA’s inception in April 2009, the organization has united industry experts and attracted almost 20 leading payment companies that seek to have a voice within the world of secure payments and help shape its future through vital Technical Working Groups through which SPVA members can contribute to acquire first-hand knowledge of current security threats. At least two white papers are scheduled to be released this year to help guide and define security solutions. The organization also recently announced its Lab Network, a group of labs that participate with SPVA members, prospective members and TWGs on security evaluations of the SPVA implementation guidelines.

Membership is open to all payment industry stakeholders. The SPVA encourages general membership among all vendors that develop secure POS payment systems, and associate membership among organizations who sell or utilize products or solutions that interact with secure POS payment devices: retailers, acquirers, software vendors, ECR vendors, banks and other standard setting associations.

To learn more about the SPVA and benefits of membership, visit www.spva.org.

###

About Secure POS Vendor Alliance (www.spva.org)

The Secure POS Vendor Alliance (SPVA) is a non-profit organization, founded by Hypercom (NYSE: HYC), Ingenico S.A. (EURONEXT: ING) and VeriFone (NYSE: PAY), that works with the multiple stakeholders of the payment value chain. Its aim is to develop an end-to-end security framework and to enhance security elements of payment solutions which protect cardholder information and defend merchants and acquirers against security breaches, to help reduce fraud and lower risk for all electronic payment stakeholders.

Editorial Contacts:

Carol McEntee/Lindsay Durfee

SPVA

404.816.2037

678.640.7822 Mobile

cmcentee@cookerly.com

lindsay@cookerly.com

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Secure POS Vendor Alliance Broadens its International Reach with Five New Payment Company Members (pindebit.blogspot.com)


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• Hypercom Introduces Secure Payment Solutions for iPhone (eon.businesswire.com)

TJX Hacker Gets Four Years

TJX Hacking Conspirator Gets 4 Years

• By Kim Zetter

Humza Zaman, a co-conspirator in the hack of TJX and other companies, was sentenced Thursday in Boston to 46 months in prison and fined $75,000 for his role in the conspiracy. The sentence matches what prosecutors were seeking.



Zaman, a 33-year-old former network security manager at Barclays Bank, was charged with laundering between $600,000 and $800,000 for hacker Albert Gonzalez, who is currently awaiting sentencing on charges that he and others hacked into TJX, Office Max, Heartland Payment Systems and numerous other companies to steal data on more than 100 million credit and debit card accounts.



Zaman pleaded guilty in April to one count of conspiracy.



His sentence includes three years of supervised release with the condition that Zaman must disclose his conviction to any future employer. Upon release, Zaman will not be barred from using computers.



Zaman is the second conspirator in the TJX case to be charged. Former Morgan Stanley coder, Stephen Watt, was sentenced in December to two years in prison for his role in the TJX case, which involved supplying Gonzalez with a sniffer program used to siphon card data from the TJX network.



Continue Reading at Wired

Read More http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/03/tjx-conspirator-sentenced-to-46-month/#ixzz0iCaC11N7

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Heartland Payment Systems Signs Martin Eagle Oil Company as First SmartLink Customer

New State-of-the-Art Technology Enables Convenience Store and Petroleum Businesses to Streamline Network Operations and Reduce Telecommunications Costs

PRINCETON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Martin Eagle Oil Company, Inc., a multi-branded marketer of motor fuel products, has selected Heartland Payment Systems’® (NYSE: HPY) new SmartLink® technology to create a consolidated managed network for payment transaction data and back-office information. SmartLink will initially be implemented at 11 Martin Eagle locations with the remaining locations to follow shortly.



Heartland’s SmartLink telecommunications technology consolidates multiple in-store communication lines into one high-speed broadband line. This streamlining of network services enables critical business data to be transmitted quickly over a secure, SSL-encrypted connection. The SmartLink Network delivers first-of-its-kind technology that can transmit both transactional data as well as integral back-office information, allowing convenience and petroleum store owners to spend less time managing their networks ― and more time managing their businesses. The merchant gateway allows merchants to monitor their automatic tank gauge data, in-store environmental control system data and daily back-office data such as email, file sharing and internet usage. The payment gateway allows them to monitor their point-of-sale terminals, money-order terminals, check verification, ATM, fleet card and loyalty card transactions.



With SmartLink, businesses receive a single network-related invoice and can rely on one customer service resource for troubleshooting and network monitoring, reducing in-house support costs and the need for additional IT staff. By consolidating multiple phone lines and telecom providers into one network, SmartLink enhances operational efficiency and reduces the costs typically associated with data communications and networked services.



“The benefits of SmartLink are tremendous. The installation was turnkey and seamless, and our entire network operation has been streamlined to run more efficiently,” said Bill Meek, Martin Eagle Oil’s director of information services. “SmartLink has enabled us to provide our dealer locations with additional value-added services, such as new high-speed payment options. We’re looking forward to implementing SmartLink at the rest of our locations.”



Michael Youngkin, transport and monitoring product manager at Heartland, added, “Heartland is pleased to be working with Martin Eagle Oil as our first SmartLink customer. This ‘one-stop-shop’ managed network service resolves the common industry issue of dealing with multiple telecom providers. It enables convenience store and petroleum business owners to streamline processes, reduce overhead ― and concentrate on making their businesses profitable.”



Through a robust dealer network, Martin Eagle supplies fuel products to hundreds of locations in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. It also operates convenience stores under the Quick Track brand in Texas.



Heartland is one of the largest payments processors in the convenience store and petroleum industry, offering a comprehensive suite of products and services including card processing, gift marketing, prepaid services, check management, payroll services and more. For more information about SmartLink, visit SmartLinkPro.com, call 866.976.1359 or email SmartLinkPro@e-hps.com.





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Heartland Payment Systems Introduces PlusOne Payroll

Online Payroll Management System is Industry’s First to Utilize Cutting-Edge Oracle® Technology For Streamlined, Cost-Effective Processing

PRINCETON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Heartland Payment Systems® (NYSE: HPY), one of the nation’s largest payments processors, has released Heartland PlusOne Payroll, a newly developed comprehensive payroll management system that streamlines all aspects of the payroll process to enable time and cost savings. Heartland’s platform is state-of-the art, enabling the company to process payroll on a large scale and provide customizable solutions for businesses of all sizes.



Developed in conjunction with America OnShore ― a Cleveland-based human resources and payroll software consulting firm ― PlusOne Payroll is the first in the industry to utilize Oracle technology. This technology enables faster processing and continuous updates to ensure businesses remain compliant with payroll, tax and human resources regulations. The platform features web-hosted access, enabling businesses ― and their accountants’ ― to securely access all payroll data from virtually anywhere with SSL-encryption protection. It also provides robust, easy-to-use reporting for better business analysis. PlusOne Payroll is equipped to interface with the leading providers of accounting and time and attendance applications, as well as restaurant and retail point-of-sale (POS) systems.



“Built as an enterprise-level application from the ground up, PlusOne Payroll’s feature set and ability to scale enable it to meet large corporate and service bureau requirements,” said Todd La Fever, managing partner and CEO at America OnShore. “Simultaneously, its intuitive interface and logical process flows provide a straightforward approach for even the most basic of small business payroll needs.”



Mark Strippy, executive director of Heartland Payroll ServicesSM, added, “At Heartland’s core is its investment and commitment to technological innovation. Businesses are in need of an advanced and superior product that provides the essential tools to more effectively manage payroll. We are excited to offer just that and provide small and large businesses with customized solutions designed to save time and eliminate the hassle of administrative updates.”



PlusOne Payroll not only benefits organizations that use it, but their employees as well. With this solution, businesses can offer their employees self-serve tools to effectively control the allocation of their compensation and other payroll/human resource-related data. Providing these value-added tools increases both convenience and employee satisfaction.



Heartland Payroll Services processes payroll for businesses of all sizes and in all industries throughout the United States, delivering comprehensive payroll capabilities including reporting, compliance, POS integration and workers’ compensation programs. For more information, visit HeartlandPaymentSystems.com/Payroll and call 866.941.1HPS (1477).

About Heartland Payment Systems

Heartland Payment Systems (NYSE: HPY), the 5th largest payments processor in the United States, delivers credit/debit/prepaid card processing, payroll, check management and payments solutions to more than 250,000 business locations nationwide. Heartland is the founding supporter of The Merchant Bill of Rights, a public advocacy initiative that educates merchants about fair credit and debit card processing practices. For more information, please visit HeartlandPaymentSystems.com, MerchantBillOfRights.org, CostOfABurger.com and E3secure.com.





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Class Lawyers Not HPY With Visa/Heartland Settilement... Are Committed to Go Forward

Visa/Heartland Payment Systems Litigation: Class Lawyers Are Committed to Go Forward



HOUSTON, Feb. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Early last month, it was announced that Heartland Payment Systems ("Heartland") had negotiated a $60 million settlement with Visa to obtain releases of liability from financial institutions issuing Visa payment cards compromised by the Heartland Data Breach first announced in January 2009. Visa sent customized settlement information packets to the affected financial institutions on January 14, 2010. In order to accept the settlement, a financial institution was required to affirmatively complete and return the settlement paperwork to Visa by January 29, 2010. The offers–at least those reviewed by class counsel–appeared to be less than 10 cents on the dollar for most financial institutions (and some at less than 1 cent on the dollar).



Last week, as expected (given the fact that the vast majority of the compromised cards were issued by a relative handful of mega banks), Visa announced that financial institutions representing 97% of the compromised payment cards accepted the proposed settlement. However, that leaves roughly 2.5 million cards and tens of millions of dollars in costs and absorbed fraudulent charges outside of the settlement for the Visa cards alone (not to mention the roughly 50 million compromised Master Card accounts). Visa and Heartland have now "renewed" and extended the settlement offers until February 8, 2010, for those financial institutions that did not previously accept them.



Joe Sauder of Chimicles & Tikellis LLP, one of the Co-Lead Interim Counsel for the financial institutions in the federal court class action case in Houston, commented, "If Visa truly had the financial institutions' interests at heart," Sauder continued, "Why didn't Visa give everyone 30 days at the outset to decide whether to accept the offer? We have asked this question since Visa first announced the settlement. There was no reason to set an arbitrary and unreasonably short deadline."



Mike Caddell of Caddell Chapman, LLP, another of the Co-Lead Interim Counsel for the financial institutions, added: "The bottom line is that the "renewed" deals Heartland and Visa are currently offering are precisely the same deals offered two weeks ago, the calculus remains the same for the financial institutions based on their own unique damages experiences and, most important, these "renewed" settlement offers will in no way impact the federal class action in Houston–we are committed to going forward and intend to vigorously litigate this action.

Heartland Breach Ramifications Thousands Don't Subscribe To

An interesting ramification to the Heartland Breach...because banks have "canceled" untold thousands of credit and debit cards, and reissued new ones, companies are seeing losses "in the millions of dollars" from automatic billing revenue that, is, well...not so automatic anymore. 

Automatic Billing which results in monthly subscription revenue has been, and is, being severely impacted.  The Heartland Breach has caused that bird in the hand to fly the coop...and it's safe to say some will litigiously blame the "non"payment processor.  Here's a great story from the Washington Post Blog "Security Fix:"

Security Fix - Heartland Breach Blamed for Failed Membership Renewals

Heartland Breach Blamed for Failed Membership Renewals - Brian Krebs | Security Fix

In February, Bill Oesterle began seeing nearly twice the normal number of transactions being declined for customers who had set up auto-billing on their accounts. The co-founder of Angie's List -- a service that aggregates consumer reviews of local contractors and physicians -- said he originally assumed more customers were simply having trouble making ends meet in a down economy.

But as that trend continued into March and April, the company shifted its suspicions to another probable culprit: credit card processing giant Heartland Payment Systems.

The data breach last year at Heartland -- a company that processes roughly 100 million card transactions a month for more than 175,000 businesses, has forced at least 600 banks to re-issue untold thousands of new cards in a bid to stave off fraud.

For consumers, receiving a new credit or debit card number means contacting companies that have those credentials on file to charge for monthly or periodic bill payments. Less well understood, however, is the economic impact that large scale processor breaches and the inevitable waves of re-issues by banks may have on companies when customers simply fail to reset that automatic billing when they receive a new card number.

The Heartland breach happened late in 2008 and was quietly announced in late January. Since then, Oesterle said, Angie's List has seen an increase of two to four percentage points in the rejection of auto-billed payments.

"We estimate that we're seeing an impact of perhaps as much as $1 million in revenue as a result of the increased turnover in card turnover," Oesterle said.

Oesterle said the possibility of the Heartland breach as the source of the increased turnover became clear at a recent staff meeting, when he discovered that three out of four of the people around the table had recently been re-issued new credit cards by their banks, which had attributed the action to the Heartland breach.

"So we started doing some random sampling, and took a look at people [whose cards were] being declined, and started contacting them," Oesterle said. "Most of the people we contacted said they were happy with the service, but had had their credit card re-issued by their bank as a result of the Heartland breach."

The trouble is that convincing customers who had once set up auto-billing to reestablish that relationship after such a disruption is tricky, as many people simply don't respond well to companies phoning or e-mailing them asking for credit card information, Oesterle said.

"We have processes in place to track these rejections that allow us to go back to members, asking for updated information, but we generally accept that some rejected auto-bills will never be recouped," he said. "We'll work hard to re-capture those members, but it will cost us additional resources to do so - and some will be lost."

Avivah Litan, a fraud analyst with Gartner Inc., said no doubt much of the attrition companies like Angie's List are seeing is in fact due to cards being re-issued by banks in response to the Heartland breach. But she said Heartland is likely also being wrongly blamed as the source of cards compromised in other -- less publicized -- data breaches that happened at the same time.

Continue Reading at Security Fix

heartland breach, angie's list, subscriptions, 

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Hearing on Heartland Class Action Lawsuits Next Week

Banking / Finance News
Source: Bankinfosecurity
Complete item: http://www.bankinfosecurity.com/articles.php?art_id=1475

Description:
A federal judicial panel will hear arguments next week on whether to consolidate the class action lawsuits brought against Heartland Payment Systems (HPY) by financial institutions. The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation in Louisville, KY will hear the arguments next Wednesday, according to Benjamin Johns, one of the lawyers representing the class action suit from the law firm of Chimicles Tikellis, Haverford, PA.

"These cases tend to be long and drawn out - there have been multiple class action suits filed in New Jersey and in Texas," says Johns. Two class action suits have been filed by Chimicles Tikellis, (New Jersey Filing PDF) (First Bankers Trust PDF), and a third class action suit was also filed in Texas against Heartland by Lone Star National Bank, Pharr, TX. (Lone Star Filing PDF)

As first reported on Jan. 20, Heartland, the sixth-largest payments processor in the U.S., revealed that its processing systems were breached in 2008, exposing an undetermined number of consumers to potential fraud.

Since then, a growing number of banking institutions have stepped forward to announce that their customers were among those affected by the breach.

About the Lawsuits

Johns says that generally multiple class action suits are consolidated and heard in one court. "Nothing of substance has happened before this," he says. "The court, once it hears the argument, will take anywhere from a month or two to release its ruling on where the suit will be heard."

Motions have been made to hear the case in Florida, Texas and New Jersey US district courts, says Johns.

There are three types of class action suits being brought against Heartland: the financial institutions' class action suits; consumer cases; and also some securities fraud class action suits have been filed by Heartland's investors. Johns says there are a total of 30 suits filed against Heartland in various federal courts.

There are five banks and credit unions named as plaintiffs in the New Jersey filing: Amalgamated Bank, New York, NY; Matadors Community Credit Union, Chatsworth, CA; GECU, El Paso, TX; MidFlorida Federal Credit Union, Lakeland, FL; and Farmers State Bank, Marcus, IA. All the institutions say they have had to re-issue "substantial" numbers of credit and debit cards because of the Heartland breach. Johns says thus far no other financial institutions have been named to the suit, but that doesn't mean others won't be joining.

"We've talked to a lot of banks and credit unions and gathering their information," Johns says. "Once the cases are consolidated we'll be making a determination of who will be added to consolidated complaint."

E-Secure-IT
https://www.e-secure-it.com

Related articles by the PIN Payments News Blog

• Banks File Class Action Against Heartland (pindebit.blogspot.com)
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• Heartland Annual Report Shows Breach Effects (pindebit.blogspot.com)
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• Heartland CEO Forced to Sell Stock to Pay Back Loan (pindebit.blogspot.com)
• Did Heartland Make False and Misleading Statements? (pindebit.blogspot.com)
• Mystery Processor's Breach Timeline (pindebit.blogspot.com)