David Heun

Data indicating a sharp rise in e-commerce fraud attacks since the first EMV installations at the point of sale in the U.S. is not yet available, but fraud's shift to the digital landscape and its favorite targets is apparent.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has been pushing ahead with EMV card adoption and the Merchant Customer Exchange mobile wallet, but gave little to no attention to them during its Feb. 18 conference call to discuss fourth-quarter earnings.

Matt Taylor, formerly the CEO of Mercury and now group president of integrated payments and emerging channels at Vantiv, shared insights into how his company made the right decisions at the right time.

As it seeks new business in Europe, PayPal is expected to soon launch a partnership with Vodafone that would allow Android smartphone users to make contactless tap-and-go payments at the point of sale. At the same time, Apple has begun securing bank partnerships for an imminent launch in China, according to reports.

The Electronic Transactions Association released its updated Guidelines on Merchant and ISO Underwriting and Risk Monitoring last week, spotlighting various merchant categories that face the biggest scrutiny from law enforcement agencies.

It has been difficult for the card brands' 3D Secure technology to find a following in the U.S., in part because of a lack of awareness, and in part because of the consumer friction the authentication process has caused in the past.

PayPal has long sought to improve its ability to reach external developers, and on Thursday made a new move in that direction by putting an open network called PayPal Commerce into beta testing.

Silicon Valley companies like Marqeta, Stripe and Braintree cut their teeth on the open network concept, creating a place for themselves at the table of future embedded payments, instant card issuing or instant credit.

The cloud and Internet of Things may excite the payments and technology industries, but they are a source of mounting pressure for in-house data security professionals.

Hardware security modules have long been a staple in payments network security, but increasing transaction flow and coding in the mobile and digital age can create data bottlenecks with current technology.