Investment

As more point of sale terminals include connections to the Internet and customers' mobile devices, payment companies may need to consider themselves in an "Internet of Things" environment — with all of the risks that implies.

When a cyberthief attacked Ashley Madison — a dating website for cheaters — with the stated goal of demonstrating that the site’s mechanism for deleting customer data didn’t work, it sent a signal that should be heeded by any company that handles sensitive data.

Data breaches happen so frequently these days that many consumers have “breach fatigue.” However, the threat does not die when public interest does. Stolen data moves faster than breaches can be detected, heightening the risk for merchants.

Apple Inc. showed how to combine biometrics and tokenization in a mainstream product, and now companies of all sizes are working to build on this combination.

Ashley Madison, an online extramarital dating service that claims to protect users’ privacy and security, has had its customer database compromised.

Ashley Madison, an online extramarital dating service that claims to protect users' privacy and security, has had its customer database compromised.

The leak of documents from the surveillance software and "ethical hacking" firm Hacking Team revealed that some foreign banks were clients. Had any U.S. banks been on the list, the last two weeks would have been … interesting.

Treasury Deputy Secretary Sarah Bloom Raskin told a group of bankers that law enforcement and regulators need to declassify more information so banks can protect themselves.

Biometrics are a catalyst to streamline authentication, though the technology contains a vulnerability that Payfone thinks it can solve with the SIM cards that match consumers to a computing device such as a smartphone.

Any merchants or businesses handling payment and other sensitive data while using a Windows Server 2003 network will need to take precautions when Microsoft ends it support for that platform on July 14.