June 20, 2005 (1:19 PM EDT)
Phishers Jump On MasterCard Breach
By TechWeb News

When MasterCard went public last week with news that a security breach exposed more than 40 million cards to fraud, customers weren't the only ones interested. Phishers picked up on it, too, and quickly launched a campaign to piggyback on the blunder.

The crude e-mail -- which was spotted by Seattle-based Secure Computing -- sports several clues that it's a phish, including the from: address, which is "Master Bank" rather than MasterCard International.

The message reads in part: "During our regular update and verification of the accounts, we couldn't verify your current information."

Although it makes no specific reference to the security breach -- likely because the message and bogus Web site were already "in the can" -- the campaign could have more legs than usual, since card customers who read the news will be expecting to hear from MasterCard or their issuing bank about how the security screw-up affects them.