Data breach put 1.5M numbers at risk

UNDATED (AP) — A company that processes credit card transactions says that as many as 1.5 million card numbers were compromised in a data breach early last month.

The CEO of Global Payments says the matter was "absolutely contained," but Visa dropped the company from its list of approved third parties that process transactions between stores and banks.

The breach was revealed Friday when Visa and MasterCard said they had notified issuers of its credit cards. American Express says it may also have been affected, and Discover promised to reissue cards where appropriate.

Global Payments set up a website to help cardholders but did not provide the names of affected stores or banks. Its stock fell 4.5 percent on Monday. It fell 9 percent Friday before trading was stopped.

Global Payments CEO Paul Garcia says card numbers were compromised but cardholder names, addresses and Social Security numbers were not. He said the company was working with law enforcement.

Besides processing cards in the U.S., Global Payments provides its services to government agencies, businesses and others in Canada, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.