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Same-store sales on credit and debit cards continue to drop for small businesses, indicating that any signs of recovery from the recession have yet to be seen by either Main Street merchants or their acquirers. Sales on cards for small merchants fell 12.15% in the fourth quarter last year compared …
Read More »Encryption, PIN Security, EMV Top Busy Agenda for PCI Council in 2010
A busy year is on tap for the PCI Security Standards Council, with revisions due not only for the main Payment Card Industry data-security standard but also standards governing PIN-entry devices and payment-processing software applications. Plus, the PCI Council plans to take a close look at two widely discussed security …
Read More »Debit Growth Is Still the Story As Visa And MasterCard File Results
The bank card networks have weighed in with their latest earnings reports, and operating statistics within them show debit continues to boom while the unprecedented, recession-induced credit contraction over the past year may be nearing its end. At Visa Inc., which reported late Wednesday, U.S. debit payment volume hit $238 …
Read More »Hackers Target Hotels for Card Data As Malware Gets More Insidious
A growing emphasis by computer hackers on stealing payment card data from hotels and resorts and their increasingly sophisticated malicious software and attack methods are two highlights in a new report from security consulting and technology firm Trustwave Holdings Inc. Trustwave's Global Security Report 2010 summarizes findings from the Chicago-based …
Read More »Study: Of All Breaches, Those Caused by Hacking Are the Costliest
The cost of data breaches rose slightly last year, but breaches resulting from computer hacking incurred by far the highest losses, according to a new report from privacy and data-security research firm Ponemon Institute LLC. The average cost per compromised customer record rose to $204 in 2009 from $202 in …
Read More »New Group Seeks Safe Debit Payments Online And for Mobile
The growth of online commerce in recent years has given rise to a number of payments-related trade groups, not to mention the PCI Security Standards Council, the oversight body of the Payment Card Industry data-security standard. Now a new one has come onto the scene, one is dedicated to furthering …
Read More »As Best Buy Tries Bill-Pay Kiosks, TIO Hopes for Big Expansion
A 35-store deployment at Best Buy Co. Inc., announced late last week, could be the start of a major breakthrough in bill-payment kiosks for TIO Networks Corp. The Vancouver, B.C.-based processor says the machines, which have been live for about four months in a four-market trial in the Atlanta, Las …
Read More »Recession Helps Fuel Merchant Interest in Online PIN Debit
Merchant e-Solutions Inc., which on Tuesday announced it is actively marketing online PIN debit to both existing and prospective e-commerce merchants, credits the deep recession of the past year or so with helping to drive merchant interest in the service. “The recession has made [online PIN debit] more important,” says …
Read More »MasterCard’s SunTrust Coup Includes Credit As Well As Debit Cards
MasterCard Inc. struck the latest blow in its ongoing fight with Visa Inc. for issuer loyalty with Thursday's announcement that SunTrust Banks Inc. would switch its entire 5-million-card debit portfolio from Visa to the MasterCard brand. While one analyst called it a minor win, SunTrust's conversion underscores the growing importance …
Read More »Card Industry Has a Compelling Case for Data Encryption, Report Says
End-to-end encryption of cardholder account data during the transaction process is an imperfect solution to payment card fraud, but it's the most practical out there now for the U.S., a new report about fraud management from Aite Group LLC concludes. The report estimates that fraud cost the U.S. card industry …
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