Breaking

9-Year-Old Boy Dies After Being Shot in Head in Croixville Housing Community; Police Detain 15-Year-Old

Concerned Residents Clean Christiansted Town Using Their Own Tools, Money, and Some Help from the VI Fire Service

Territory May See Veterans Cemetery Through DeGazon-Sponsored Bill

Credit and Debit Cards of WAPA Customers Were Compromised Since August 30th, WAPA Says, Authority to Finally Start Issuing Notification Via Mail and Email

Sports Tourism in VI Gains Momentum as DC United Team is set to Play Exhibition Soccer Game on St. Croix

Carnival Breeze Brings 3,700 Tourists to St. Croix During Maiden Call; Senators, Tourism Officials Want to See More

Limetree Bay Willing To Provide $10 Million To Help Add Life to a Dying G.E.R.S.

American Airlines to Serve St. Croix With New Flights Next Summer

The Sudden Death of Influential Roots Reggae Visionary, Vaughn Benjamin of Midnite Band and Akae Beka, Has Rocked the Virgin Islands and Reggae Community Around the World

Arthur A. Richards K-8 School Hosts Anti-Bullying Campaign

Come Out. Hang Out. Have Fun at The Meat Up, One of St. Thomas’ Latest Hot-Spot for Good Food with Friends and Family.

UVI Board of Trustees Approves $47.1 Million Fiscal Year 2020 Budget; Sets $3 Million Fundraising Goal

Man Dies During Early Morning Car Accident on St. Croix; Driver of Car Arrested (Updated)

'You Did Everything You Could to Prevent this from Happening': An Emotional Goodbye to Young Aaron Benjamin

Back in Business: Cost U Less on St. Thomas Opened its Doors Friday to Thousands of Customers 2 Years after Irma and Maria

Bill Aimed at Regulating Credit Use by Gov't Departments and Agencies Among Others Held in Committee

Juan Luis Hospital Announces Completion and Availability of Mobile Dialysis Facilities

Tractor Trailer With Tank Carrying Thousands Of Gallons of Liquified Gas Flips Near Cool Out Bar; Driver Injured But Alive

Credit and Debit Card Hack Through WAPA Appears to be Widespread in Virgin Islands; WAPA Says Support Services Will be Made Available to Affected Customers

Facing Life in Prison Without Parole, Mother and Boyfriend Plead Not Guilty in Murder of 4-Year-Old Boy

Residents’ Debit and Credit Cards Charged Hundreds of Dollars Through Cyber Attack on WAPA Payments Vendor; Customers Urged to Utilize Other Forms of Payment

Breaking News / Featured / News / Technology / Top Stories / Virgin Islands / October 29, 2019

The credit and debit cards of multiple Virgin Islands residents tied to their WAPA account were compromised recently, with two residents — one whose card was charged $363 for soccer tickets in France, and another whose U.S. bank blocked multiple transaction attempts — telling the Consortium of the occurrences Tuesday. The hackers attempted four transactions on the debit card tied to the local bank, but the customer’s bank, Banco Popular, blocked three, the Consortium was told by one of the affected customers. This WAPA customer also told the Consortium that he was on his way to work and stopped to put gas in his vehicle, only to be told that his Visa debit card declined.

The Consortium contacted Jean Greaux, WAPA director of communications Tuesday afternoon for comment. Mr. Greaux said he was not aware of any hack that had affected the third-party payments vendor that WAPA uses for the credit and debit card payment of bills.

But in a release issued Tuesday night, WAPA advised its customers who pay their electrical and water bills online to ensure that “no questionable or fraudulent charges have been made on their credit or debit card accounts.”

WAPA revealed that the third-party vendor used by the authority to process credit and debit card payments was indeed the target of a cyberattack. The authority reminded residents of its other payment options as it continues to monitor the situation.

The payments system, named Click2Gov, was targeted by hackers who managed to compromise the system. The flaw was first discovered in December 2018 after continual breaches of it led to the compromise of at least 294,929 payment cards across the country, according to news reports.

WAPA said Tuesday that after a customer reported fraudulent activity on their credit card account following an online payment, the authority immediately, on October 18, notified its vendor, Central Square Technologies, parent company of Click2Gov, about the possibility of a data compromise.

Yet even though the authority said it knew of the breach since Oct. 18, it did not inform the public until the Consortium contacted Mr. Greaux today about multiple customers whose debit cards were compromised as a result of the Click2Gov hack. At least two of the accounts the Consortium is aware of were hacked on Sunday — nine days after WAPA said it learned of the compromise.

WAPA said in its Tuesday release that Central Square Technologies, which the authority said has processed WAPA’s online payments for more than a decade without incident, has since taken steps to prevent reoccurrence.

The authority said it has a meeting with Central Square Technologies on Wednesday and will provide additional updates. The vendor is in the midst of an investigation on the scope, cause, and remediation of the data breach involving WAPA’s online payment methods, WAPA said.

Executive Director Lawrence J. Kupfer said Tuesday night that as a precaution, WAPA provisioned new servers to avoid reoccurrence. ”WAPA is working with Central Square Technologies to determine the number of customers affected, and the dates that the compromise occurred.  Payments made by two other options, self-service kiosks, and pay-by-phone were not affected,” he said.  Mr. Kupfer encouraged customers to monitor credit card statements for potentially fraudulent activity, according to WAPA. “Any suspicious charges should be reported to your bank or credit card provider immediately.






Ernice Gilbert
I wear many hats, I suppose, but the one which fits me best would be journalism, second to that would be radio personality, thirdly singer/songwriter and down the line. I've been the Editor-In-Chief at my videogames website, Gamesthirst, for over 5 years, writing over 7,000 articles and more than 2 million words. I'm also very passionate about where I live, the United States Virgin Islands, and I'm intent on making it a better place by being resourceful and keeping our leaders honest. VI Consortium was birthed out of said desire, hopefully my efforts bear fruit. Reach me at [email protected].




Previous Post

Rosetta Horsford-Stevens Appointed as Port Director on St. Croix

Next Post

Police Clarify Location of Recent Stabbing in St. Thomas: It is said to have Occurred Outside Tap & Still



Leave a Reply


More Story

Rosetta Horsford-Stevens Appointed as Port Director on St. Croix

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced today the appointment of Rosetta Horsford-Stevens as the Port Director...

October 29, 2019