Data security

The best way to judge a mobile wallet's potential is to see how it handles failure.

Developers with early access to the next version of the iOS operating system have discovered software support for a fingerprint scanner that could be built into an iPhone or iPad's home button, according to various reports.

Visa and MasterCard may differ on their support of chip-and-PIN in the U.S., but they are of one mind in their approach to Australia.

Four Russians and a Ukrainian were charged in what prosecutors called the largest hacking and data breach scheme in U.S. history.

To combat the billions of dollars consumers lose in “gray charges,” or charges they are misled into paying, BillGuard has released an iOS mobile app.

Groupon has modified its Breadcrumb POS mobile payments app to allow it to handle payments even when the wireless signal cuts out. It was no easy feat.

Citi Bike, a New York bike-rental initiative sponsored by Citigroup, disclosed a breach of payment card data.

QR codes, the two-dimensional bar codes used in many mobile wallets, are easy to deploy but can vary in their level of security.

A mobile security expert in Germany says he found a flaw in the encryption technology of some mobile phone SIM cards holding personal and payment details.

The PayVest event in New York, presented by PaymentsSource, American Banker and NYPAY, brought together many key players in emerging payments and technology. Many of them are taking different paths to the future.

The federal government says it may build databases of credit card transactions, hotel records and Internet searches as part of counter security measures.

While independent sales organizations stringently keep up their compliance with the Payment Card Industry data security standard, they don't always protect non-payments data and paper records as diligently.

Royal Bank of Canada chose to store data in the cloud, rather than use the mobile phone's secure element, in a mobile payment system it plans to launch this year.

Heartland Payment Systems will use Alaric's Fractals fraud prevention and detection product to monitor the 300 million card transactions it processes each month.

Jumio's Mobile Consumer Habits study is grabbing headlines and laughs for revealing that 9% of U.S. adults admitted to using their smartphones during sex — but the survey's other findings have more serious implications for the future of mobile payments.

Have you ever imagined starting your own bitcoin exchange? Soon, Vancouver-based Bex.io will make that possible by deploying exchange functionality under a Software as a Service (SaaS) model.

Fraudsters are upping the ante in their pursuit of payment data by creating spoofed sites that look so real they even include localized language settings and drop-down menus to dupe consumers into turning over credentials.

Kipochi, an African online service launched this month, is looking for a way to connect the digital currency Bitcoin to M-Pesa, Kenya's widely-used mobile payments system.

Capital Services plans to begin offering its internally-used suite of payments, consumer and portfolio management tools to a broad market of financial players.

Developers should consider incorporating rewards and other tools such as receipt tracking in new mobile payment applications to promote broad adoption.