Citi replaces credit cards echoing Heartland data breach

Following the January announcement made by the nation’s largest payments processor Heartland Payment Systems about the major data breach Citigroup Inc. started sending new credit cards to its consumers. On January 20 Heartland revealed that its system that processed Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover Card transactions was penetrated by the cyber criminals.

A Citi spokeswoman gave no confirmation to that the cards sent to customers fro replacement were related to the Heartland case. As long as the bank does not unveil how many consumers fell victim to data compromise the number of the new cards also remains unknown. Meantime, customers that received the mail could see the notice on it labeled "Important Security Message" where the bank explained the "account number may have been illegally obtained as a result of a merchant database compromise and could be at risk for unauthorized use."

Currently Citi has over 150 million credit card holders across the globe.