News

February, 2013

• 20 February

  Identity Fraud Rises for the Second Year in a Row, New Study Finds

  While still down from high levels in 2009, identity fraud rose for the second straight year in 2012, according to the latest annual ID-fraud study from Javelin Strategy & Research. Javelin estimates that 5.26% of U.S. consumers were ID-fraud victims last year, up from 4.90% in 2011 and the recent …
• 20 February

  Cold Comfort in Reduced Phishing Activity, Warns Anti-Phishing Working Group

    n The report, which covers the third quarter of last year, documents a steady decline in both the number of unique sites hosting phishing attacks and the volume of reported attacks. The number of phishing sites detected by the APWG fell in step-like fashion from 63,253 in April to …
• 19 February

  TSYS Plans To Go Big-Time in Prepaid With Its $1.4 Billion NetSpend Acquisition

  No stranger to prepaid cards, payment card processor Total System Services Inc. (TSYS) will become a major force in the prepaid niche with its planned cash acquisition of program manager NetSpend Holdings Inc. that values NetSpend at $1.4 billion. The deal the two companies announced late Tuesday would pay NetSpend …
• 14 February

  PCI Council Releases Mobile-Acceptance Guidance, But No Word on Certification of Apps

    The PCI Security Standards Council on Thursday released yet another set of data-protection guidelines for mobile payments, this one aimed at merchants using smart phones and tablet computers to accept credit and debit cards. Although it touches on many points, the guidance especially focuses on the software running on …
• 13 February

  PCI Council: Merchants Need To Be Grounded When Mulling Cloud-Based Data Security

    Merchants that think by hiring a cloud-based provider to handle their payment card security tasks they’ll never have to worry again about protecting card data had better think twice, according to the PCI Security Standards Council. “Just because people outsource to a cloud service provider, they’re not done,” says …
• 12 February

  A Startup Emerges to Replace Passwords With a Wide Menu of Alternative Identifiers

    Aiming to resolve a vexing security problem presented by user names and passwords, Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup Nok Nok Labs launched on Tuesday with $15 million in financing. Next month, Nok Nok will start shipping software that will allow users of PCs and mobile devices to identify themselves to …
• 12 February

  Criminals Are Increasingly Targeting E-Commerce And Mobile Devices, Study Finds

    Fraudsters are turning their attention to e-commerce sites, continuing to improve the malware they use to find and harvest payment card data, and sensing opportunity in mobile devices, according to the latest annual data-breach report by Trustwave Holdings Inc. Chicago-based Trustwave, a leading data-forensics investigator and security vendor, based …
• 11 February

  FIS Enters Real-Time Person-to-Person Payments Arena with People Pay Service

    Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) on Monday rolled out its entry in the person-to-person payments sweepstakes and, as with other providers in recent months, its service offers real-time settlement. Indeed, People Pay—the name FIS has given its new P2P service—is built on the PayNet network the company introduced …
• 6 February

  Rewards, Subsidies Help Spur Activity for Isis in Mass Transit And Vending

    A little more than 90 days into its pilot, Isis, a mobile-payments consortium formed by wireless carriers Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility, and T-Mobile USA, announced on Tuesday at the 2013 Payment Summit in Salt Lake City that it has more than 10,000 merchant locations in Salt Lake and Austin, …
• 6 February

  Visa Seeks Reconciliation With Merchants As Its Debit Losses Narrow

  New Visa Inc. chief executive Charles W. Scharf used his first earnings conference call with analysts Wednesday to offer an olive branch to U.S. merchants. Scharf’s comments came on the heels of an earnings and operational report for fiscal 2013’s first quarter that show strong U.S. Visa credit card growth …