Breaches of point-of-sale networks have typically involved the use of malicious software to sniff out and intercept payment card data as the information is transmitted to the bank for authorization. The massive compromise at , which resulted in the exposure of tens of millions of credit and debit cards, for instance, resulted from a breach of the company's point-of-sale network.

A rash of similar incidents in recent years have led to calls for the use of end-to-end encryption technologies to protect cardholder data from the moment the card is swiped to the time the data is received by the bank or payment processor.

Jaikumar Vijayan covers data security and privacy issues, financial services security and e-voting for Computerworld. Follow Jaikumar on Twitter at or subscribe to . His e-mail address is .

in Computerworld's Cybercrime and Hacking Topic Center.