Data security

MasterCard's biometric security venture with the South African Social Security Agency has helped the agency distribute more than 10 million active MasterCard debit cards throughout the country.

Gas station owners may have the most difficult task of any retailers in preparing for mobile payments and EMV cards because of their dated systems and equipment — and because many of their customers fear that using their phones at the pump will cause fires.

PayPal has made its portable chip-and-PIN card reader, called PayPal Here, available to all merchants in the U.K.

Trustwave and Transaction Network Services (TNS) plan to jointly provide an encryption service designed to shield payment card information.

The Online Lenders Alliance wants Nacha, the group that manages a U.S. payment system, to clarify warnings on illegal use of the network by payday-loan firms, saying the message is posing a threat to legitimate business.

Payments processor Total System Services, or TSYS, has added a fraud mitigation program from Fair Isaac Corp., a data analysis and credit risk company commonly known as FICO.

Bitcoin users who help maintain the digital ecosystem's official record of transactions may soon find themselves required to register with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network as administrators of the alternative currency.

Microsoft Corp. is joining Eurosmart, a Brussels, Belgium-based association that develops security standards for smart cards, terminals and other electronic applications.

With its latest proposal, the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council aims to make card data security more straightforward for merchants and organizations accepting payments.

As many as 30% of merchants bailed out on their Payment Card Industry data security test because they didn't have time or didn't understand it, ControlScan says. The vendor aims to improve the process by suppressing irrelevant questions and putting the easiest questions first.

Dmitriy Smilianets, 29, appeared Aug. 12 in federal court in Newark, N.J., where prosecutors said July 26 he was indicted with three other Russians and a Ukrainian. They are accused of hacking 17 retailers, financial institutions and payment processors, including 7-Eleven Inc., Nasdaq OMX Group Inc., Carrefour SA and J.C. Penney Co., to steal more than 160 million credit- and debit-card numbers.

In the race to provide consumers with identity verification tools that are simple and easy to use, it's in everyone's best interest to ensure that businesses are not sacrificing data security in the process.

ID Analytics Inc. wants to make sure banks know when a fraudster has taken over an account and is trying to go wild with card payments or money transfers.

EMV chips improve security over magnetic-stripe cards, but they have not been easy to implement. Years ago, a Forrester analyst said "the U.S. is going to adopt EMV in about the same way the U.S. adopted the metric system — somewhere between kicking and screaming and not at all." What have been the biggest hurdles?

Migrating to EMV does not mean card issuers have to do away with their instant-issuance systems.

The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council is making its security standards available on a Russian-language microsite as part of a move to promote data security in Russia.

Bill.com is using its business payment technology to help users determine when and where to ask for additional security information, a move designed to spot vulnerabilities that require extra protection.

To create effective mobile payments products, developers must treat merchants and consumers as separate customer segments that have of inextricably-linked needs.

A symbiotic relationship between security and revenue may sound too good to be true, but it's not. ISOs and acquirers can succeed by creating opportunities that pair enhanced PCI compliance tools with new revenue streams.

Customizable card designs are not just for people wanting photos of their cats emblazoned on their credit cards. Such an offering also has a role at government agencies to help combine ID cards and payment cards.