Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
The good news: merchants’ total losses from fraudulent transactions are down. The bad news: losses are likely to rise. More bad news: fraudsters are taking a liking to alternative and mobile payments. Those are some of the key findings from the third annual “LexisNexis True Cost of Fraud” study …
Read More »U.S. Treasury Electronic-Benefit Campaign Gears up As Checks Dwindle
Nearly nine months after introducing a rule requiring recipients of Social Security and certain other benefits to switch from checks to electronic deposit, the U.S. Treasury Department says the number of check recipients has dipped below 9 million for the first time in decades. The agency is now in …
Read More »Responding to Merchant Demand, Shazam Prepares Dual-Message PIN Debit
n In a related move, Shazam is also testing applications written for both the iPhone and Android mobile operating systems that will let store staffers move away from checkout counters and use mobile devices to complete PIN-debit transactions anywhere on the sales floor. These apps will also become available …
Read More »Malware And Spear-Phishing Soar, Helping To Drive Rise in Breaches
While the payments business continues to fret about data breaches, new information emerged this week that helps explain how such pernicious leaks happen, and why they’re happening with increased frequency. While notable breaches like the one at Sony earlier this year steal headlines, cybercriminals are plundering accounts at organizations …
Read More »Mobile-Payment Apps Store And Leak Critical Data, Security Expert Says
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Read More »New Rule To Fight Prepaid Money Laundering Mostly Exempts Closed-Loop Cards
Federal regulators on Tuesday issued their final rule for preventing terrorists, drug dealers, and other criminals from using prepaid cards for money laundering. The new rule from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCen) subjects merchants and other non-bank entities that sell or manage prepaid cards to some …
Read More »Hypercom Pulls Plug on SmartPayments Software Amid Security Flaws
Security weaknesses have caused Hypercom Corp. to pull the plug on a software system that enables gateways and merchants using personal computers as virtual terminals to connect to payment-processing services. Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Hypercom sent a notice on July 15 to users of its SmartPayments Savannah Server and related products that …
Read More »Smart Phones Sell Like Hotcakes, But Mobile Banking Cools off
n That’s the conclusion of a report released this week by Javelin Strategy & Research, Pleasanton, Calif. In it, Javelin analyst Philip J. Blank notes that mobile-banking adoption among smart phone users has leveled off even though consumers continue to snap up the gadgets at a furious rate. A …
Read More »Brand Protection, Internal Threats Emerge Among Chief PCI Preoccupations
Fear of the damage that a data breach can inflict on a brand, rather than of network fines, drives organizations to invest in compliance with the Payment Card Industry data-security standard (PCI), a study released on Tuesday says. Some 69% of the mostly online organizations surveyed cited brand protection …
Read More »Eye on EMV: UNFCU Study, Aite Survey, Jack Henry Service
n The first U.S. financial institution to introduce EMV cards, United Nations Federal Credit Union, released the results of a study along with Gemalto, the vendor of its cards. The study comes one year after the credit union launched its chip-and-PIN credit cards. As a result of the study, …
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