Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
• Cyber criminals can guess Visa card numbers and other information required for fraudulent online purchases in a matter of seconds, according to researchers. By distributing multiple guesses across many sites, the method avoids triggering automated guess limits at any single site, according to a paper in IEEE Security & Privacy, a publication of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The authors say MasterCard is not affected because of its centralized network. Visaresponds that it makes available to issuers and merchants a wide range of tools to thwart such “brute force” attacks, according to a story about the research in The Independent, a U.K. newspaper.
• Gift card technology provider Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc. said it will use its Digital Pass system to enable issuers of gift and loyalty cards to integrate their products into Apple Pay, allowing consumers to access the cards with a single touch.
• A survey of more than 350 financial professionals by TD Bank indicates more than one-third are more aware of the risk of fraud and cyber attacks as digital-payments and -invoicing systems become more common in corporate settings.
• In related news, credit-scoring firm FICO said its Enterprise Security Score performs twice as well as other scores at determining the risk that an organization will suffer a major data breach.
• JPMorgan Chase & Co. released on Monday its Local Consumer Commerce Index for August that found all but three of 15 major U.S. cities had negative growth in consumer spending in August compared to the same month a year ago.
