Google Cache Reveals 19000 UK Cardholders' Details

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Google's cache feature has apparently revealed the credit card details of more than 19,000 UK residents which were accidentally released by cybercriminals and spidered by Google's bots.

The search engine cache functionality is a little known feature that allows google users to access documents or web pages that no longer exist because the site or the page has gone offline or is missing.

In this particular case, the 16 digit numbers, expiry dates, names and addresses of the Visa, American Express and Mastercard users were discovered after a web server in Vietnam, used by cyber criminals, was shut in February.

APACS, the UK payments association which deals with UK money transmission, payments and clearings, says that most of the cards incriminated had been cancelled although the body has yet to say whether the cardholders were informed that their details had been compromised.

Google has already said it has removed the content from its cache and has reiterated the fact that webmasters can use existing Google tools to remove any sensitive information from the search giant's cache.




Source:itproportal