Data security

The Justice Department is grabbing the spotlight with Operation Choke Point, a controversial investigation that's drawing U.S. banks deeper into the fight against consumer fraud. But below the radar, another federal agency is tiptoeing in the same direction, and again drawing stiff opposition from the banking industry.

Swift, the financial messaging service, has launched a new version of its Bankers World Online directory, which includes added information to aid international payments.

As state regulators take more interest in Bitcoin, third-party vendors are looking to apply the expertise they built in other markets to digital currency. One such vendor, Strevus, has a background in securitization, which is another volatile and risky market.

Quick Fuel, a provider of fueling solutions for commercial fleets and other U.S. businesses, has partnered with payments processor Comdata in an attempt to speed fueling and boost security.

Samsung Electronics Ltd. and semiconductor designer ARM have joined the FIDO (Fast IDentity Online) Alliance board of directors.

JPMorgan Chase will build on its developments in tokenization for a digital wallet that it plans to roll out by the end of the year.

After alerting its customers in January that its arts and crafts store chain had suffered a potential data breach, Michaels Stores Inc. confirmed last week that at least 2.6 million cards may have been affected.

Biometric technology could eliminate the need to carry a payment card or even a smartphone by allowing users to authorize payments with a fingerprint, handprint, face or retina scan. But the technology has had a rocky past, and each new product comes with new quirks.

Bitcoin companies are looking to win business from large corporations by offering more of the security features that traditional payments providers have long used.

An engineering student at Lund University in Sweden has created software that allows shoppers to pay for food by scanning their hands.

SmartMetric plans to introduce a facial identification feature to its biometric payment cards within the next six months.

This rise in data breaches and their resulting cost have companies asking “Am I doing enough to protect my data?” As breaches are expected to continue escalating, taking the proper steps to protect your data has never been more relevant or important.

Visa has created a new top post overseeing risk and public policy and named its next general counsel.

PayPal is recommending that some businesses upgrade their Payflow Gateway integrations to eliminate the risk of vulnerability associated with the widespread Heartbleed bug.

Prepaid program managers face a much different set of considerations than banks do when deciding how to deploy EMV-chip cards in the U.S.

Financial technology firm Fiserv has developed new anti-fraud systems for automated clearinghouse and wire payments.

A lot of merchants may not realize that they are using point of sale technology that runs on Windows XP, which Microsoft will no longer support after April 8.

Class actions related to Target Corp.'s massive data breach will be consolidated in the retailer's home state of Minnesota.

Data security provider Foregenix is in the thick of the endless war on cybercrime. And the payments industry's biggest weapons are no deterrent to fraudsters, says Andrew Henwood, CEO of U.K.-based Foregenix.

Vietnam Eximbank has implemented biometric technology for over-the-counter and ATM transactions where only fingerprint is needed for authentication.