(Newswire.net — April 25, 2014) Houston, TX — Michael’s chain store just released the number of credit cards and debit cards that were compromised in January’s breach of security. The number of compromised accounts is up to three million.
The cause of the security breach was a malware attack that the company says had not been previously encountered by security firms. Michael’s has had claims of fraudulent charges on some of these accounts. In order to mitigate the damage for these account holders, Michael’s is offering 12 months of identity protection, credit monitoring and fraud assistance to any customers affected by the breach.
These types of security breaches from paying by credit card are becoming quite common, giving consumers greater incentive to get out of debt and move to a cash system. During the hottest shopping season last year — Black Friday through December 15 — retailer giant Target acknowledged a data security breach of up to 40 million consumers tied to roughly 40,000 card reader devices nationwide.
A breach in security can mean others gaining access to consumers’ payment card information including card numbers and expiration dates, as well as more personal information such as addresses and phone numbers.
Debt expert Amanda L. Grossman says that one of the easiest ways to avoid falling victim to these types of security attacks is to use cash. “Getting out of debt as quickly as possible and then closing some of those extraneous accounts makes you less vulnerable to security attacks.”
Ways to get out of debt early, discussed in the online course The Debt Manipulator 3.0, include, “paying down your highest interest loan first regardless of the principle amounts, and negotiating a lower interest rate so that more of your monthly minimum payment goes toward paying down principle.”
As long as we live in a world of data, security breaches will continue to happen. Closing some of your accounts after paying them off will make you less vulnerable to an attack. However, Grossman is quick to add, “Of course you don’t want to close your accounts quickly and all at the same time, because this could have a negative effect on your creditor score.”
Amanda L. Grossman (https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AmandaLGrossman) is a professional blogger, detailing ways to live in frugal decadence on her blog FrugalConfessions.com. She has been featured in the Houston Chronicle, Anderson Cooper’s Daytime Talk Show, and LifeHacker.
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