It might almost be taken for granted these days that credit has become a way of life. The credit system led by financial giants and credit card merchandisers such as MasterCard has arisen from the old 'paper' system of cash currency. It has quickly replaced older systems as an easy and effective way to exchange money in daily transactions. Credit cards have become popular with the American public, and so many of us do all different types of shopping with these plastic cards. In the end, MasterCard and other merchandisers have become the driving forces in money management between customers and businesses, and as well as being powerful, they have become accountable for the security of the system that they have created.

A lot of concern has grown recently from the phenomenon of 'data theft' which relates to credit card use in a special way. Credit fraud has been going on for years. Now hackers are accessing people's personal credit information and even card numbers through databases in cases of security breaches. A recent event culminated in the exposure of the financial information of almost 14 million MasterCard holders. MasterCard found that a handling company known as CardSystems had been hacked and that through this intermediate company, thieves had compromised the information that MasterCard administrates.

In the wake of this problem, there has been confusion over who is responsible for dealing with these security breaches and how it is to be handled. Consumers have a responsibility to point out unauthorized charges. Credit card companies have a responsibility to not hold card holders accountable for charges beyond their control. Third parties have a responsibility to protect the information that they are given. Overall, the information has to be supervised all the way along the chain of its journey between banking points to make sure that it is not lost or mishandled.

MasterCard has been trying to deal with these rising problems and all types of credit fraud. One common type of fraud revolves around online use of credit cards. Whether banking or shopping, people are putting their financial data into their computers and sending it over the internet. This leads to all kinds of potential problems, as unauthorized parties can sometimes take card numbers and other information directly from insecure points and even from the customer's own hard drive. MasterCard has come up with products such as SecureCode that households can use to help prevent online fraud and other kinds of credit fraud in efforts to ensure that their card holders are not at risk.

The fight against credit fraud takes fairness and common sense. If consumer trust continues and card holders work with the credit companies to protect their information, fraud may be contained and the credit system will continue to play its pivotal role in the fast-paced financial world.