Data security

MasterCard, echoing remarks made 16 hours earlier by Visa, is placing security at the heart of its emerging payments strategy.

Retailers that have long criticized the card networks' plan for them to accept EMV-chip cards are starting to view the smart-card migration as a reason to adopt mobile payments.

Visa, which reports its fraud rate is at a historic low of 6 cents for every hundred dollars processed, is positioning itself as a safe haven for payments services.

WorldPay has received American Express' EMV payment processing certification, which means the processor is compliant with Amex's requirements for handling chip-card payments.

Payfone Inc., a provider of mobile- phone security, is raising $10 million from Early Warning Services LLC, a provider of fraud-detection tools for banks and financial-services companies.

Schnucks Markets Inc. has agreed to a proposed settlement in a lawsuit filed on behalf of customers over the data breach that occurred at some of its stores earlier this year, affecting up to 2.4 million payment cards.

General Payment Systems will provide kiosk-based payment and tracking technology for probation needs through CSRA Probation Services, which serves about 60 state courts in Georgia.

Some of the legal woes Schnucks Markets Inc. has faced since suffering a data breach from December 2012 through March 2013 were eased this month in a St. Louis court.

MasterCard's Mobile Money Partnership Program (MMPP) has added Oberthur Technologies' MoreMagic subsidiary, a provider of financial services, security and identity management.

Virtual Piggy will deploy Kount's fraud management technology to provide payments security.

Oberthur Technologies is joining the Fast Identity Online Alliance as a member of the FIDO board of directors.

Visa Europe has secured the services of Conferma to provide its issuing banks and payments partners with technology that can provide virtual account numbers for business travel customers.

Security can be an expensive, time-consuming investment for small merchants, and most have a mindset that security hacks won't happen to them. But independent sales organizations must take an active role in protecting even the merchants that don't want to be protected.

Jumio Inc. has expanded its ID scanning technology to support Apple and Samsung's digital wallets, enabling scanned payment cards to be used within other mobile apps.

PayPal is developing a new checkout process for its mobile app, allowing users to scan a QR code or type a PIN at the point of sale to authenticate purchases made with its cloud-based mobile payment app.

Tyfone Inc. has added Acculynk’s Payzur person-to-person payment capability to the mobile banking application it supports at Boulder Valley Credit Union.

Arroweye Solutions is launching an EMV chip-card customization platform called EMV On-Demand.

South Korean mobile payment provider Danal will partner with biometric technology provider Crucialtec to develop an app for mobile payments in South Korea, and eventually in China and the U.S.

The Republic of Kenya is among the latest countries to make the move to EMV-chip cards, as its local banks and processors mount an ambitious campaign to transition the smart-card standard by early next year in a move to combat fast-rising fraud.

MasterCard has become the first payment network to join the Fast IDentity Online Alliance, which aims to improve online payment security through the use of common technology across browsers, applications and servers.