At least 19 individuals had their card data compromised

Mar 20, 2015 13:43 GMT  ·  By

Police at Los Angeles International Airport is investigating a card data breach identified at the Tom Bradley terminal, with a focus on a certain vendor, whose name remains undisclosed.

An investigation into the matter has determined that credit and debit card information belonging to 19 individuals, all airport employees, has been stolen.

Considering that LAX takes the third place in the top busiest airports in the US, a vendor compromised with financial malware is a serious reason for concern. The exact number of victims has not been determined yet, but chances are there are plenty more.

Travelers passing through the terminal have dozens of retail shops to choose from for spending their money, from luxury stores to restaurants.

According to a statement from LAX police received by CBSLA, financial institutions have warned that there have been attempts to make fraudulent purchases with card data stolen from a business inside the terminal.

It is believed that the compromise occurred about two weeks ago, on March 4. Anyone who made purchases at the Tom Bradley terminal should keep an eye on the bank statements and report any fraudulent or suspicious transaction to the bank that issued their card.

The investigation is currently ongoing and the attackers are still to be identified. There are no details on whether cyber forensics experts have been called to assist with the examination and remove the malware from the affected systems.

It is possible that the impacted business is not to blame for the incident and that the compromise occurred at the point-of-sale system provider.