New details from Edward Snowden were released through the German magazine Spiegal showing that the secret NSA program "Follow the Money" records bank and credit card transactions. You might be tracking your own credit, disputing negative credit items on your credit reports, but the NSA could be watching what you are doing too.
NSA analysts had an internal conference to discuss tracking Visa transactions all over the world in 2010. Their stated goal was "to collect, parse and ingest transactional data for priority credit-card associations"
Mike Fish, Swift's chief information officer, said at a conference in Dubai on Monday that the interbank group had "no evidence to point out that there has ever been any unauthorized use of our network or our data. We constantly monitor cybersecurity threats, and whenever we believe there is any risk to the security of our services, you can be sure we investigate very thoroughly," Fish said, based on a copy of his remarks furnished to Bloomberg by Swift.
Visa, based in San Francisco, stated that it was "not cognizant of any unauthorized access into our network. Visa takes data security seriously and, in response to any attempted intrusion, we'd pursue all available remedies to the fullest extent of the law. Further, it's Visa policy to only provide transaction information as a result of a subpoena or another valid legal process," the statement said.
Spiegel stated that the NSA's Tracfin database in 2011 was comprised of 180 million records, of which 84 % had been credit-card transactions.
Britain's communications-intelligence agency, known as GCHQ, privately expressed concerns about the effort, the magazine said. Quoting a GCHQ report on the legal implications of collecting, storing and sharing large quantities of financial data, it said the British agency considered those actions a deep invasion of privacy involving "rich personal information," much of which "is not about our targets."
So you might be using credit monitoring to track your credit, but you might not be the only one tracking it! Check your Transunion, Experian and Equifax credit reports for negative credit items you can dispute and have removed.
NSA analysts had an internal conference to discuss tracking Visa transactions all over the world in 2010. Their stated goal was "to collect, parse and ingest transactional data for priority credit-card associations"
Mike Fish, Swift's chief information officer, said at a conference in Dubai on Monday that the interbank group had "no evidence to point out that there has ever been any unauthorized use of our network or our data. We constantly monitor cybersecurity threats, and whenever we believe there is any risk to the security of our services, you can be sure we investigate very thoroughly," Fish said, based on a copy of his remarks furnished to Bloomberg by Swift.
Visa, based in San Francisco, stated that it was "not cognizant of any unauthorized access into our network. Visa takes data security seriously and, in response to any attempted intrusion, we'd pursue all available remedies to the fullest extent of the law. Further, it's Visa policy to only provide transaction information as a result of a subpoena or another valid legal process," the statement said.
Spiegel stated that the NSA's Tracfin database in 2011 was comprised of 180 million records, of which 84 % had been credit-card transactions.
Britain's communications-intelligence agency, known as GCHQ, privately expressed concerns about the effort, the magazine said. Quoting a GCHQ report on the legal implications of collecting, storing and sharing large quantities of financial data, it said the British agency considered those actions a deep invasion of privacy involving "rich personal information," much of which "is not about our targets."
So you might be using credit monitoring to track your credit, but you might not be the only one tracking it! Check your Transunion, Experian and Equifax credit reports for negative credit items you can dispute and have removed.