Credit has become a pillar of the American economy. When people began to look for ways to increase convenience in transactions, credit cards became popular as an effective way to exchange money in a ‘cashless’ environment, making transactions faster and avoiding the problems associated with dealing in cash. The rise of credit merchants and the widespread use of credit for household transactions has made large financial groups such as MasterCard into catalysts for the daily flow of money between clients and businesses. With this power, though, comes responsibility, and now people are wondering how to respond to problems of credit fraud and identity theft, and where the responsibility lies for these safeguards.
In a recent attempt at technological piracy, unauthorized parties got access to data held by millions of MasterCard holders. Financial data was taken from databases and a kind of general concern ensued. MasterCard named the third-party data firm CardSystems as the point where security was breached. The problem caused a lot of confusion as consumers wondered how their personal finances would be effected. The credit companies have issued warnings regarding...