WALLA WALLA WASHINGTON COMPUTER THEFT LEADS TO CANCELLATION OF VISA CARDS AT BAKER BOYER BANK Walla Walla Union-BulletinThursday, February 05, 2004

Bank cancels local credit cards
At least one local bank canceled some of its customers' Visa cards after being informed of a security breach.

By Cathy Grimes of the Union-Bulletin



The recent theft announced by Visa USA of a computer processor containing millions of credit card numbers prompted Baker Boyer Bank officials to block Visa credit card accounts for its local customers.

The bank faxed and mailed letters this week to customers with card numbers stored on the computer, said Julie King, an employee in the bank's credit card division.

``We faxed off the last letter yesterday,' she said.

King said Baker Boyer was issuing new credit card numbers to customers whose information was stored on the stolen processor. Customers can call the bank and get their new numbers for phone or Internet use, but the accounts will not be activated until Monday. Customers should receive the new cards by Feb. 22.

A spokesman with Visa USA corporate headquarters said the company was continuing its investigation of the theft, which he called a security breach, and no fraud had yet been reported. He would not say where the computer was stolen from, but he did say it was not the Walla Walla area.