David Shettler, chief technology officer with the volunteer-run Open Security Foundation, said that government investigations will help Heartland's customers and business partners understand what is going on. "There are a lot of unanswered questions," he said. "Bankers around the country are getting frustrated because they're having to incur the costs of reissuing these cards, and they're not getting a lot of information."

"The bankers are bearing the brunt of this in a time and an economy where the banks aren't doing so great," Shettler said.

In 2007, the Massachusetts Bankers Association sued retailer The TJX Group, seeking tens of millions of dollars in compensation for banks that were forced to reissue credit cards after hackers stole credit card information from the U.S. retailer. That suit was settled after Visa and TJX set up a $40.9 million fund to compensate banks.

An unofficial transcript of Heartland's call can be found