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By Jim Daly Continuing its effort to get a massive data breach behind it, discount retailer Target Corp. announced Wednesday a $19 million settlement with MasterCard Inc. to compensate banks and credit unions for the fraud and card-reissuance costs they incurred for their MasterCard-branded credit and debit cards affected by …
Read More »New POS Malware Hides in Plain Sight
Criminals have developed a new family of point-of-sale malware that hides in plain sight, riding along with core processes inside Microsoft Corp.’s Windows operating system, says Chicago-based Trustwave Holdings Inc., which uncovered the malware during a recent U.S. Secret Service investigation. Dubbed “Punkey” because of the “unkey” command within its …
Read More »Hotel Management Firm Finds Malware on Its POS Systems for the Second Time Since 2013
White Lodging Services Corp., an independent hotel-management firm, this week announced a “suspected breach” of the point-of-sale systems for the food and beverage operations in 10 hotels it manages. This incident follows a breach of the POS systems at the food and beverage locations in 14 White Lodging-managed hotels in …
Read More »Trustwave Sold for $810 Million; Will Continue As a Standalone Business
Chicago-based Trustwave Holdings Inc. has a new owner. Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. is buying privately-held Trustwave for $810 million, Singtel announced Tuesday. Singtel placed an $850 million value on Trustwave. It will buy 98% of the firm with Trustwave chairman and chief executive Robert J. McCullen retaining 2%. Trustwave, which …
Read More »Small Merchants in No Rush To Migrate to EMV: Survey
As the U.S. payment card industry continues its monumental shift to EMV chip card technology, one group of merchants will lag. More than 70% of small merchants will not be EMV compliant by Oct. 1, the date the card networks have set to shift liability for point-of-sale fraud to …
Read More »Card-Linked Offers Gaining Favor Among Consumers: Survey
Card-linked offers appear to be gaining consumer favor, according to results of a survey from the CardLinx Association, a Burlingame, Calif.-based trade group. Over the past 12 months, consumer use of card-linked offers increased 92%, the association said. It surveyed more than 50 companies. Other survey results show 95% …
Read More »Heartland Payment Systems’ CEO Blasts Indiana Religious-Freedom Law
By Jim Daly Merchant processor Heartland Payment Systems Inc.’s outspoken chief executive Bob Carr weighed in Friday with a statement on Indiana’s controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Carr says the law could relegate some people to “second-class status” and is an “invitation to discriminate.” “It is deeply troubling that the …
Read More »EMV Cards and Terminals Have a Small but Fast-Growing Foothold, Visa Reports
Visa Inc.’s U.S. payment card issuers had about 48 million EMV chip cards in the market as of Dec. 31, a Visa executive said Wednesday. And, somewhat surprisingly, about 80% of the small number of U.S. EMV transactions today are coming from small merchants rather than big retailers, which are …
Read More »An AmEx Appeal Likely as Network, DoJ Still Far Apart on Anti-Steering Rules
American Express Co. and the U.S. Department of Justice submitted proposals Monday for rules changes conforming to a federal judge’s ruling that AmEx’s current ban on merchants steering customers to cheaper forms of payment violates antitrust law. The proposals show the two sides remain far apart, and AmEx reiterated that …
Read More »Target To Pay $10 Million To Settle Data-Breach Consumer Class Action
By Jim Daly Lawyers for Target Corp. and consumers affected by the big discount retailer’s 2013 data breach were scheduled to meet in U.S. District Court in St. Paul, Minn., today to review a proposed settlement under which Target will pay up to $10 million to customers who suffered financial …
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