Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Microsoft Corp. is denying reports that have appeared since the weekend that the computing giant is working on an electronic payment system that could handle micropayments for online content and undercut the merchant pricing for such transactions when handled with bank cards. According to widespread press accounts, William H. Gates, …
Read More »Under Fire, TJX Defends Its Handling of Card Data Breach
Off-price retailer The TJX Cos. Inc. is defending its month-long delay in the disclosure of an intrusion into its network that handles customer payment card data, saying it may have prevented the data breach from becoming worse. TJX discovered the breach in mid-December, but didn't reveal it until Jan. 17. …
Read More »Acquiring Operation Helps Boost Results at a Restructured First Data
Leading payment processor First Data Corp., restructured and without its huge Western Union wire-transfer business, late on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter income from continuing operations of $240 million, up 12% from $214.4 million for the year-earlier period. Greenwood Village, Colo.-based First Data's merchant and international divisions posted strong gains, while the …
Read More »Latest Breach May Force a New Approach to Data Security
The latest and possibly biggest in a series of hacks into retailer and processor databases holding sensitive data about credit and debit card holders may indicate that it's time for a new approach to card security, according to at least one analyst. That calls into question the effectiveness of the …
Read More »Cost Cutting Helps TSYS Boost Profits After a Tough Year
It was a bumpy ride, but Total System Services Inc. (TSYS) emerged from 2006 with some hefty profit growth. The second-largest card processor this week reported fourth-quarter revenues of $503.9 million, up 19.8% from $420.7 million a year earlier, and net income of $87.1 million, up 75.2% from $49.7 million. …
Read More »Online Fraudsters Continue to Churn out Multiple Phishing Sites
The sudden proliferation of Web sites hosting phishing attacks that began in October cooled only slightly in November, as online fraudsters continue to create multiple sub-domains to foil anti-phishing filters. The number of unique phishing sites came to 37,439, essentially flat with the 37,444 reported for October, according to the …
Read More »The Corrosive Siege Over Signature-Card Interchange
10 Tipping Points for the Payments Industry Part 3 (Editor's Note: In its November-December 2006 issue, Digital Transactions magazine began a series of special analytical reports concerning the 10 most critical issues now confronting banks, processors, and merchants as they engage in handling electronic transactions. Written by noted researcher and …
Read More »Detroit Takes Deep Plunge Into Card Acceptance for Parking
In a development that represents one of the largest projects so far to replace cash for payment at on-street parking meters, the city of Detroit on Tuesday started accepting credit and debit cards at 175 new multispace meters. The city expects the meters, each of which controls up to 10 …
Read More »Hypercom Aims at PC-Based Payments With Its TPI Software Deal
Payment-terminal manufacturer Hypercom Corp. on Thursday announced that it has bought the assets and technology of TPI Software LLC, a move that positions Hypercom to be a major player in the growing personal computer-based point-of-sale payments market. Founded in 2001, TPI Software specializes in applications that integrate payment functions with …
Read More »New Phishing Tool Lets Fraudsters Harvest Data From Legitimate Sites
RSA Security Inc. on Wednesday announced its analysts had discovered a powerful new phishing tool fraudsters are selling via online forums and using to hoodwink consumers. The tool, which RSA calls a “universal man-in-the-middle phishing kit,” allows phishers to set up a URL that can interact in real time with …
Read More »