A recent report in USA Today suggested that we're now in the midst of a third major breach of credit card numbers that could affect both Visa and MasterCard holders.

This breach again involves the back-office operations where credit card numbers are processed on behalf of merchants. Surprisingly, these operations typically use the most sophisticated levels of encryption available for our obsolete magnetic strip card system.

The direct danger to you is if the crooks behind this breach make a duplicate of your credit card and start charging it up. Of course, you can always dispute the charge with your credit card company. Ultimately, your liability is zero.

However, if they have your debit card number, you have very few rights under the law. You can have checks bouncing all over the place if they empty out your account. And your bank is not even required to cover you for overdrafts under this circumstance!

Neither Visa nor MasterCard are talking, so we don't know exactly how many people may be affected either way.

Unfortunately, we will continue to be vulnerable until we get modern "smart chip" security standards for our credit cards like they have in Europe. American Express tried to lead the charge on this stateside, but the banks pushed back. Sounds like the heavy hand of government may have to intervene with some regulations on the industry before anything gets better.

So if you use a debit card, here's your assignment: You've got to monitor your account everyday online. This is the only way you can limit the amount of harm in a potential breach.