Blippy.com glitch exposed more credit, debit card information than disclosed

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An anonymous tipster pointed us to Google search results, which, when we called them up, showed more credit and debit card numbers -- one full number, the others partial numbers -- in transactions posted on Blippy.com that Google cached, potentially putting those users of the site at risk.

Those results have since been removed.

[Updated 2:47 p.m. Blippy.com posted this update: ‘The security and privacy of our users is extremely important to Blippy and is our top priority. As a continuation of our efforts from yesterday, when four credit card numbers were discovered in Google’s cache, we’re taking the following measures: We’re continuing to work with Google to have them remove all sensitive information from their cache. We’re analyzing our backup databases from January and February to understand what additional information the Google cache may have. To date, we’ve discovered one additional credit card number and have reached out to the owner. And while we don’t anticipate anyone else to be affected, we’re continuing our investigation with urgency.’]

Blippy.com acknowledged a glitch Friday that revealed credit and debit card numbers used in nearly 200 transactions made by four people. Each Google search result displayed a debit or credit card transaction, the amount spent, the location and full card number.

Blippy.com founder Philip Kaplan said Friday that the isolated incident took place months ago while the site was in beta testing. Blippy.com worked with Google to have the search results expunged. A Michigan firefighter was one of the four consumers who had his debit card number revealed.

‘This incident, while certainly a headache for the people involved and a headache for us, looks a lot worse than it really is,’ Kaplan said Friday.

Says our tipster: “We just don’t know the extent of this issue and how many full credit card numbers were there before. I don’t think only the four people that Blippy contacted should be concerned. There could be many more in there that could turn up if someone knows what query to do.”

Blippy encourages people to disclose information online that used to be off limits: personal finances. Users register their credit card or online accounts to stream a record of their purchases on the site.

-- Jessica Guynn