Fraud & Security

Maybe being number one in something isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be. For instance, the United States leads the world in the per capita cost—$233—of a data breach, finds the “2018 Cost of a Data Breach Study: Global Overview,” released Wednesday. That figure bests Canada, at $202 per …

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a federal civil lawsuit Tuesday accusing former Heartland Payment Systems Inc. CEO Robert O. Carr and his girlfriend, Katherine M. Hanratty, with insider trading. Carr allegedly tipped Hanratty ahead of the December 2015 public announcement that Global Payments Inc. planned to acquire Heartland, and …

Macy’s Inc. disclosed that criminals were able to breach sensitive data on Macys.com, the Detroit Free Press reported. Citing a letter sent to customers, the newspaper said Macy’s detected suspicious activity on June 11. The retailer then blocked customer profiles that appeared to be breached. Hackers were able to get …

Enthusiasts of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are trying to position the digital currencies as legitimate means of exchange, but crypto’s tendency to be stolen and then laundered by thieves is not only well-known, it’s growing worse. The total estimated value of cryptocurrency pilfered from exchanges worldwide came to almost $800 …

In a finding that resolves differing decisions by lower courts, the United Kingdom Court of Appeal ruled in favor of retailers challenging interchange fees set by Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. as anti-competitive, Bloomberg reported. The case, however, now goes to a tribunal that reviews business-competition disputes. Payments provider Century Business …

Now that the PCI Security Standards Council’s July 1 deadline has passed for implementing newer versions of Transport Layer Security technology to protect payment data, some experts believe nearly a third of small brick-and-mortar and e-commerce merchants don’t meet the new requirements. As a result, expect merchant acquirers, processors, and …

The new era of data breaches and privacy failures has had far-reaching effects. Personal information is packaged, sold, and distributed on the dark Web, leaving consumers feeling uneasy. Americans want to be protected, but also want convenience, and are holding businesses to high standards, even higher than what they hold …

The cybersecurity firm Gemini Advisory recently announced a large-scale data breach at Saks Fifth Avenue and its sister company Lord & Taylor, compromising 5 million credit cards. While the forensic investigation is still under way, it appears that the breach was likely caused by malware on the parent company’s point-of-sale …

Payments-technology provider Bluefin Payment Systems said NCR Corp. is using Bluefin’s point-to-point encryption service at merchants deploying NCR’s Counterpoint Retail Solution to process payments through NCR Secure Pay. Payments provider Merchant Consulting Group, which was founded in 2005, changed its name to Paystri. Credit-union processor PSCU said its new Lumin …

Equifax Inc. disclosed Wednesday that it has entered into a consent order with eight states that requires it to improve its data-protection practices in the wake of the huge data breach last year at the national credit-reporting agency. The breach compromised personal data on approximately 148 million consumers, including Social …