More cards are at risk from the Global Payments card data breach than had previously been suspected, according to CUNA Mutual Insurance, the firm which insures the bulk of credit union card programs.

The firm has alerted credit unions to the possibility of greater card losses from both card-present and card-not-present fraud since the Global Payments breach has been determined to have started on Jan. 30, 2011.

The company has not previously made public a date for when the breach was supposed to have begun after news of it broke last month.

The insurer said the additional time meant that more cards are at risk for both card-not-present and card-present fraud.

“Credit unions experiencing card fraud since January 2011 should review 'card-present' and 'card-not-present' fraud and confirm the fraud cases have been reported to the card association(s)” the insurer told covered CUs. “This will assist the card association(s) in determining whether the fraud is tied to the Global Payments breach.

“Credit unions that have identified a common point of purchase should report it to the card association(s). As a reminder, credit unions experiencing 'card-present' or 'card-not-present' fraud should continue to exercise available chargeback rights.”