It’s a laurel, of sorts, that financial firms would like to rebuff. They sustained the largest share of phishing attacks in the fourth quarter, accounting for 27.7% of all attacks, followed by the broad “other” category at 18.2%, and webmail, software-as-a-service at 17.7%. That’s according to the Phishing Activity Trends …

PayPal has been known for some time as a major alternative for checkout online, but now the company is making it plain it’s putting considerable resources behind checkouts where its services function entirely in the background. So-called unbranded checkout, led by the company’s Braintree processing platform along with a relatively …

Cantaloupe Inc. is rolling out Cantaloupe Go, a line of self-service apps and kiosks that rely on artificial intelligence to enable consumers to purchase products in self-service retail locations, such as micro-markets. Cantaloupe Go comprises Cantaloupe’s line of self-checkout kiosks. which vary in cost, features, and payment-acceptance capabilities; Smart Store …

Merchants’ price for accepting credit cards has remained steady for years, according to data released Monday by the Electronic Payments Coalition, an advocacy group representing the payment card industry. The EPC’s release comes as widespread and longstanding merchant complaints about the cost of card acceptance have sparked efforts by federal …

Presto Automation Inc., a provider of artificial intelligence-based solutions for drive-through restaurants, is rolling out its voice-ordering system at participating Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s drive-throughs nationwide. San Carlos, Calif.-based Presto had been piloting the technology at select Carl’s Jr. and Hardees locations. Carl’s Jr. and Hardees, which together have about …

Buoyed by Cash App, services, and a move up market Block Inc., parent of Square and Afterpay, generated nearly $5 billion in first-quarter revenue, a 25% increase from $4 billion in the same quarter a year ago. Its transaction-based revenue of $1.42 billion was a 15% increase from $1.29 billion …

Shift4 Payments Inc. is still waiting on approval from European regulators to complete its $525-million Finaro acquisition, but in the mean time the Allentown, Pa.-based processor has been busy expanding in its home market. That expansion includes yet other acquisitions aimed at consolidating Shift4’s grip on the restaurant point-of-sale market, …

Stripe Inc. has expanded its partnership with Thinkific Labs Inc., a platform for creating, marketing, and selling online learning products, to distribute Stripe Apps to its network of instructional course creators. The agreement makes Thinkific the first platform provider supporting embedded payments to distribute Stripe’s apps to its customers. Gaining …

National Retail Solutions Inc., a provider of point-of-sale technology to independent retailers, reported same-store sales in April among retailers in its network grew 6.5% compared to the same period a year earlier. The increase was a significant jump from the 0.1% increase in same-store sales in March, compared to a …

The Western Union Co. says its decision to join the early set of providers in Visa Inc.’s interoperable peer-to-peer payments service called Visa+ reflects its business. Visa+ allows users to move payments between rival peer-to-peer payments networks. The pilot, set to launch later this year, will begin with transfers between …