News

July, 2006

• 7 July

  PCI Expert Cautiously Optimistic As Compliance Rate Looks to Climb

  Of 232 large U.S. merchants identified by Visa USA in 2004 and 2005, some 23% now comply with the Payment Card Industry data-security standard (PCI), but 73% are projected to be in compliance by the end of the year “based on progress reports,” says Michael Dahn, president of Volubis Inc., …
• 6 July

  Swapped PIN-Pad Fraud Pops up in Ottawa, Netting $2 Million

  Ottawa police are close to bringing charges against a retail clerk who police say has helped a local criminal ring siphon an estimated $2 million (Canadian) over the past three months from hundreds of bank accounts by using rigged point-of-sale terminals to steal debit card account numbers and PINs, according …
• 6 July

  How EMC Counts on Mounting Demand for RSA’s Security Products

  In the digital world, data storage and security command separate realms?companies that dominate e-storage typically have had little or no presence in the information-security industry, and vice-versa. That's about to change, however, if the nearly $2.1 billion acquisition of prominent data-protection firm RSA Security Inc. by electronic information-storage giant EMC …
• 5 July

  First Biometric Fob for RFID Payment Could Be in Pilot by Year’s End

  Privaris Inc. expects to begin pilots for a biometrically secured contactless-payment fob in both physical point-of-sale and Internet payment applications by year's end, an executive with the Charlottesville, Va.-based company says. While the device, which Privaris announced last week as the first contactless key fob secured by fingerprint ID, has …
• 5 July

  End of First Data Net Saga Sets up FDC To Get Payments from Visa

  Visa USA and payment-processing giant First Data Corp. on Wednesday announced a settlement in a 4-year-old legal dispute that apparently puts an end to First Data Net, a high-profile initiative of First Data's former top official, and also appears to set up FDC to receive payments from Visa to help …
• 3 July

  PayPal Prepares for a Two-Phase Rollout of Its Virtual Debit Card

  PayPal Inc. will start rolling out its so-called virtual debit card to “hundreds of thousands” of users some time this month in a process it expects to complete by the end of August, a spokesperson for the San Jose, Calif.-based unit of online auctioneer eBay Inc. tells Digital Transactions News. …

June, 2006

• 29 June

  Google’s Payment Service, Tied to AdWords, Could Be ‘Game-Changer’

  Following a year of on-again, off-again speculation about its plans in online payments, Google Inc. launched a transaction service Thursday with at least 92 online merchants of various sizes already signed on, from Ace Hardware, Ritz Camera, and Buy.com to Trendy Togs and FaucetDirect. The new service, called Google Checkout, …
• 28 June

  Survey: Online Payment Alternatives Could Tap $14 Billion in Missed Sales

  Some 74% of consumers would be willing to spend about $960 more per year on music, games, subscriptions, and other digital content online if they could use a form of payment that's safer and more convenient than a credit or debit card, a survey released Tuesday reveals. Given current estimates …
• 28 June

  Pressure Builds in Congress To Address Data-Security Breaches

  With the loss or theft of computerized personal information making headlines almost daily, lawmakers are scrambling for solutions for what is shaping up to be the 21st Century's hottest non-violent crime. More than a dozen bills that would put new requirements on banks and other entities with access to sensitive …
• 28 June

  Will 1,000 Philly Coke Machines Usher Contactless into Vending?

  Some 1,000 Coca-Cola vending machines in Philadelphia will be equipped with contactless-payment technology over the next four weeks, and will all be accepting contactless tokens for payment by the end of July, according to USA Technologies Inc., the Malvern, Pa.-based company whose e-Port radio-frequency device is being used with the …