Data security

In the years ahead, banks will have to fend off better organized and increasingly advanced cybercrime rings. "We're seeing levels of sophistication that we haven't seen before," says Pat Phelan, senior vice president of identity at TransUnion.

Some execs have plenty to be sour about, but others are emphasizing the possibilities amid today's economic and political realities. Their contrasting mindsets were on full display at a Credit Suisse conference this week.

The password management company was an early supporter of the alliance's standards, and is now joining the organization as it seeks to reduce use of static authentication.

Malicious software may have been installed on the restaurant’s payment card systems in October.

Mobile is taking the spotlight as fraudsters shift to account takeovers and e-commerce fraud in the wake of EMV chip cards taking hold at the physical point of sale.

Consumers still primarily use cards and shop at brick and mortar retailers. Merchants need to take that into consideration when forming a technology strategy.

The latest cyberattacks on banks (and others including the Democratic National Committee) can no longer be found by traditional means, as they lurk in memory and necessary computing tools.

In an newly created role, Deborah Guild, the bank’s current chief technology officer, will lead a revamped security unit.

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Quickly keeping customers informed about an attack is among the principles banks must adopt to mitigate the fallout.

Cashless payments provider SIX Payment Services has launched a virtual PayLife credit card for making mobile payments in Austria.

By partnering with Intuit, Wells Fargo is continuing its journey toward API-based data sharing, and away from screen scraping.

Data breaches at financial institutions dropped by 26% in 2016, but breaches as a whole were up significantly.

People are warming up to mobile payment apps like Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, but concerns over fraud and ID theft could still pose headwinds.

The use of one-time tokens has picked up steam in the past year, especially with merchant groups waiting for EMVCo to release specifications for a payment account reference.

Banks are checking vendors' security practices; Mnuchin appointment to Treasury put on hold as Democrats stall.

The long-running feud between banks and fintech companies over screen scraping is morphing into a more nuanced and important conversation about how to exchange consumers' financial data securely and fairly.

Recommendations for a framework to develop a "universal security baseline" to protect sensitive payment data at rest and in transit remains a key goal of the Federal Reserve faster payments initiative.

Facebook now lets users log in using a physical token. If banks gave consumers this option, it would strengthen the security of online accounts — or at least bolster their image.

As Facebook users increasingly deal with personal and payment data, the social media giant is turning to the Security Keys standard hosted through the Faster Identity Online Alliance for stronger authentication.