News

January, 2015

• 15 January

  They May Be Extortionists, But Ransomware Developers Are Alert to Victims’ Struggles

  Some cybercrooks are nothing if not accommodating. A new version of the so-called ransomware called CyberWall, for example, has made it easier for victims to make payments and get their data back. CyberWall 3.0, released early this week, includes new gateways for reaching the decryption site. The ransom note file …
• 14 January

  PayPal Here Reader Adds Windows 8.1 Support, With App Integration Later This Month

  PayPal Inc. updated its reader for its PayPal Here mobile point-of-sale service with Windows 8.1 support and separately plans to release software to integrate reader support into iOS and Android apps. Introduced in 2012, PayPal Here enables merchants to use their smart phones and tablets as payment-acceptance devices. The inclusion …
• 14 January

  U.S. Card Producers Prepare To Crank Out EMV Cards in Big Numbers

  By Jim Daly U.S. credit and debit card issuers will be mailing hundreds of millions of Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) chip cards to their customers this year and next now that the payment card networks’ EMV liability shift looms just eight months away. Estimates about chip card issuance vary, but all involve …
• 13 January

  Restaurateurs Look to Tablets And Kiosks To Fuse In-Store, Digital Commerce

  CKE Restaurants Inc., parent of the Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. fast-food chains, and TGI Fridays Inc. are using Microsoft Corp. technology to speed up the ordering and purchase process in their restaurants, the Redmond, Wash.-based computing giant announced on Monday. Carrollton, Texas-based TGI Fridays is putting 8-inch tablets into the …
• 13 January

  Doubts About Bitcoin’s Appeal May Lie Behind Its Price Dive Since New Year’s Day

  No one can say for sure why the price of Bitcoin has dived sharply since the turn of the year, but that doesn’t mean market observers don’t have theories. These range from rampant short selling to the hack last week at Bitcoin exchange Bitstamp, in which crooks siphoned out $5.2 …
• 12 January

  New Verifone mPOS Device, Android Tablet Among Flurry of NRF Announcements

  Several payments-industry vendors are making product and services announcements in conjunction with the National Retail Federation’s annual Big Show convention this week in New York. Verifone unveiled the PayWare Mobile e355, a mobile point-of-sale terminal that accepts magnetic stripe, near-field communication (NFC), Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV), and Apple Pay transactions. Available in …
• 12 January

  Obama Proposes National Breach Notification And Privacy Laws in Wake of Data Thefts

  In the wake of a barrage of data thefts affecting tens of millions of U.S. citizens, President Barack Obama on Monday proposed national legislation to regulate breach notification. Other legislation proposed by Obama would ban companies from selling student data to other organizations for non-educational uses and from using information …
• 11 January

  Hard Times at Softcard: Mobile-Payments Venture Lays Off 60 Employees

  Softcard, the mobile-payments venture of Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility and T-Mobile USA, has laid of 60 employees in a restructuring, according to media reports. The layoffs raise questions about the future of Softcard, formerly known as Isis, which has had trouble gaining consumer and merchant acceptance for its near-field communication-based …
• 9 January

  Can EMVCo’s Aegis Rescue a Floundering 3D Secure for Online Payments Security?

  Card-not-present fraud is the bane of any merchant that operates an e-commerce site, and EMVCo, a standards body for the Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) specification, hopes its newly assumed oversight of the 3D Secure authentication standard can help them. Operated as Visa Inc.’s Verified by Visa and MasterCard Inc.’s SecureCode, 3D Secure …
• 8 January

  BluePay Acquisition Bolsters Integrated POS Efforts As New Exec Takes Over

    Merchant-services company BluePay Processing Inc. has bought CDI Technology Corp., which provides e-commerce software and payment services for companies that use business-management software such as Oracle JD Edwards and SAP. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Lombard, Ill.-based CDI integrates e-commerce and payments into business-management software, often called …