The North Carolina State Employee’s Credit Union (SECU) is replacing the credit card number, and personal identification number associated with the card, of clients whose information may have been compromised by a breach of a card processing company’s security system.

A local SECU official said there’s no way to tell how many people in this area’s debit and credit cards were compromised by the breach of Heartland Payment Systems, but the bank will be sending out letters to those affected.

“Heartland has identified some of the compromised cards,” SECU Vice President and City Executive at the Rockingham branch Douglas Fulford said. “They notify Visa, and Visa notifies the institution.”

“The Credit Union is committed to protecting all of its member information and SECU’s aggressive stance in re-issuing cards and PIN’s is a wonderful example of that commitment,” said Leanne Phelps, senior vice president of SECU’s Card and Record Services department. “The breach at HPS has probably affected every financial institution in the country; while not all institutions will reissue cards and PIN’s, SECU feels it can best protect its members with this action and will continue to keep its member-owners informed anytime such instances occur in the U.S.”

Heartland provides payment processing services to over 250,000 businesses nationwide.

“We found evidence of an intrusion last week and immediately notified federal law enforcement officials as well as the card brands,” Heartland’s President and Chief Financial Officer Robert Baldwin said in a release dated earlier this month. “We understand that this incident may be the result of a widespread global cyber fraud operation, and we are cooperating closely with the United States Secret Service and Department of Justice.”

The company stated that it was made aware of fraudulent activities by VISA and MasterCard, and after investigation determined that malicious software was the culprit of the breach.

Heartland’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robert Carr said in another release that the compromised data can most likely not be used for identity theft.

“You need to know that this data did not contain merchant data or cardholder Social Security numbers, unencrypted personal identification numbers, addresses or telephone numbers,” he said.

The company suggested consumers monitor their monthly banking statements for fraudulent charges on their debit and credit cards.

If you identify a charge on your card you believe to be fraudulent, Heartland suggests that you notify the institution that issued the card immediately, and the funds will be reimbursed to you if it is confirmed to be a fraudulent transaction.