[caption id="attachment_79383" align="aligncenter" width="259"] Hundreds of Canadian Credit Cards Hacked In Vancouver And Quebec[/caption]Hundreds of Canadian Credit Cards Hacked

In a security breach similar to the highly publicized one suffered by Target recently, 700 Canadian credit card numbers were hacked from credit card terminals at gas stations and restaurants.

Computer malware called JackPOS was installed at the terminals is to blame again for this most recent data breach. The attack was aimed at Vancouver and parts of Quebec and was initiated remotely by hackers three weeks ago.

JackPOS, infects point-of-sales terminals according to California security firm IntelCrawler LLC,.

According to experts, the hackers were able to generate a list of common passwords and then install a virus that would push them to terminals to make off with credit card information.

“It provides them good results, as the security in this sector is surprisingly really very poor,” IntelCrawler CEO Andrew Komarov said.

The virus was able to go infected by officials initially because, when installed, it appears to be just an innocuous version of Java running in the background. Java is a programming platform for many types of computer software and therefore would not have raised any flags.

The most alarming part is that this new wave of data attacks is not just confined to North America. Brazil, India and Spain join the United States and Canada on the list of countries where these types of cyber POS system attacks have taken place. In an age where everything is digital, this is becoming an alarming global trend.

Visa and MasterCard both said they are now investigating transactions from January and February. It appears that several other U.S. banks and credit card companies are also affected.

The RCMP offers these tips for protecting yourself against credit card scams, which they say have become very lucrative:

• Always check your statements and report any discrepancies to your credit card provider.
• Only give your credit card numbers to companies you trust over the phone or online.
• Beware of emails claiming to be from your credit card company or bank and asking for your account information.