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Network Solutions LLC is investigating a server breach in which payment-transaction data from nearly 574,000 cardholders were transferred to outside servers, according to the Herndon, Va.-based Web site-hosting company. In early June, the company discovered unauthorized code on its servers that support merchants' e-commerce Web sites. Network Solutions on Friday notified 4,343 merchants whose transaction information potentially was affected by the breach. Fairfax, Va.-based General Dynamics Corp., a third-party information-technology company that performs data forensics, informed Network Solutions on July 13 that the breached data may have included consumers' names, addresses and payment card numbers, says Susan Wade, a Network Solutions spokesperson. Network Solutions could not immediately say how fraudsters accessed its network, says Wade, adding that General Dynamics and law-enforcement officials are investigating. Network Solutions is not aware of any card fraud committed with the stolen information, she says. The company "implemented additional security measures" immediately following the breach discovery, says Wade, declining to give details. Network Solutions has arranged for TransUnion LLC, a Chicago-based credit bureau, to contact merchants' customers whose data may have been affected. The breach differs from an incident in December during which CheckFree Corp. customers were directed from the company's online bill-payment service to a fraudulent Web site. Network Solutions handles CheckFree's Web site domain. The CheckFree incident "had to do with someone getting access to their domain," says Wade. "It has nothing to do with this. This impacted our server that hosts our e-commerce Web sites. All other business is fine."
