MA MasterCard Incorporated

   By Kim Richters and Max Bernhard 
 

Mastercard (MA) said Thursday that it was investigating a data breach of a loyalty program in Germany which led to a leak of personal information such as names, addresses and credit-card numbers.

Mastercard said that the loyalty program, known as Priceless Specials, has been shut down since the company first became aware of the breach and a leaked list of user data for the first time on Monday. However, on Wednesday, Mastercard became aware of another file with user data circulating online, it said.

The loyalty program was operated by a third-party service provider and doesn't affect the company's payments systems, Mastercard said.

The credit-card company said it is working with officials to resolve the issue quickly.

"We take data protection and security very seriously and therefore do our utmost to investigate and solve the problem related to the operator of the specials platform in Germany," a company spokeswoman said.

The Mastercard statement follows media reports in Germany which said 90,000 customers were affected.

Write to Kim Richters at kim.richters@wsj.com and Max Bernhard max.bernhard@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 22, 2019 06:51 ET (10:51 GMT)

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