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The bank card networks have weighed in with their latest earnings reports, and operating statistics within them show debit continues to boom while the unprecedented, recession-induced credit contraction over the past year may be nearing its end. At Visa Inc., which reported late Wednesday, U.S. debit payment volume hit $238 …
Read More »Hackers Target Hotels for Card Data As Malware Gets More Insidious
A growing emphasis by computer hackers on stealing payment card data from hotels and resorts and their increasingly sophisticated malicious software and attack methods are two highlights in a new report from security consulting and technology firm Trustwave Holdings Inc. Trustwave's Global Security Report 2010 summarizes findings from the Chicago-based …
Read More »Study: Of All Breaches, Those Caused by Hacking Are the Costliest
The cost of data breaches rose slightly last year, but breaches resulting from computer hacking incurred by far the highest losses, according to a new report from privacy and data-security research firm Ponemon Institute LLC. The average cost per compromised customer record rose to $204 in 2009 from $202 in …
Read More »MasterCard’s SunTrust Coup Includes Credit As Well As Debit Cards
MasterCard Inc. struck the latest blow in its ongoing fight with Visa Inc. for issuer loyalty with Thursday's announcement that SunTrust Banks Inc. would switch its entire 5-million-card debit portfolio from Visa to the MasterCard brand. While one analyst called it a minor win, SunTrust's conversion underscores the growing importance …
Read More »Card Industry Has a Compelling Case for Data Encryption, Report Says
End-to-end encryption of cardholder account data during the transaction process is an imperfect solution to payment card fraud, but it's the most practical out there now for the U.S., a new report about fraud management from Aite Group LLC concludes. The report estimates that fraud cost the U.S. card industry …
Read More »Heartland Settles with Visa, Agrees to Pay Nearly $60 Million for Losses
Merchant acquirer Heartland Payment Systems Inc. cleared away probably the single biggest remaining matter from the huge data breach it disclosed a year ago by announcing a $60 million settlement with Visa Inc. on Friday. The settlement will cover losses Visa credit and debit card issuers incurred in the wake …
Read More »Results Show a More Robust Holiday Shopping Season Than Expected
With the 2009 holiday shopping season all but over except for some post-Christmas bargain hunting, several payments indicators show that merchant acquirers are processing more transactions than many observers expected when the season began nearly two months ago. Online shopping tracked by Chase Paymentech Solutions LLC, the nation's largest e-commerce …
Read More »Six Months Later, MasterCard Softens a Controversial PCI Rule
MasterCard Inc. is changing a controversial policy, and pushing back a deadline, that it announced only six months ago regarding enforcement of the Payment Card Industry data-security standard. With the changes, which involve assessing computer systems for PCI compliance, MasterCard could be viewed as responding to valid complaints after first …
Read More »Settlements Still Leave Many Post-Breach Legal Woes for Heartland
With two settlements announced in less than a week, merchant acquirer Heartland Payment Systems Inc. is putting some of the legal repercussions of its huge data breach behind it as 2009 draws to a close. But most of the legal troubles Heartland faces in the wake of the breach it …
Read More »Will Consumers’ Shift Away from Credit Cards Outlast the Recession?
Consumers have cut back their usage of credit cards in the past year, often on their own volition but also because suddenly risk-averse credit card issuers have closed millions of credit card accounts or reduced credit lines in their attempts to strengthen recession-racked balance sheets. Now the emerging question is …
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