Analytics

Reports that last week’s mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., may have been financed by a $28,500 loan from Prosper Marketplace have sparked a wave of scrutiny of online marketplace lending, where fraud rates are much higher than credit cards.

Exciting growth opportunities exist for small and medium businesses taking advantage of the ever-increasing holiday shopping season. However, amidst this positive backdrop, lurks the negative threat posed by hackers and cyber criminals that prey on holiday shoppers and businesses.

Like the long shutter times required for old photographs, a payment transaction at a hotel can remain exposed for a while, creating a distinct fraud risk that's not often found at other merchants.

If a fraudster doesn't know a credit card verification value code, it creates a major hurdle in attempting a card-not-present transaction with stolen cards or credentials.

SunTrust Banks Inc. introduced enhanced rewards and bonuses with three new credit cards for customers about seven weeks after the October EMV liability shift, gaining some headwind with the added security of chip cards and an offer of free FICO score reporting.

As wearable computing transitions from fantasy to fashion, developers are starting to consider the distinct risks that arise when payments migrate away from smartphones.

A recent column by Penny Crosman on whether cards with newer chip technology should be paired with a signature or PIN, for added security, came down squarely on the side of using PINs. But the article overlooked a key fact in the debate: neither is the most important defense against fraud. It’s the chip that matters.

Banks have a lot of work to do to modernize branches and keep their technology on par with other businesses' digital tools. Here are some ideas worth borrowing from retailers, restaurants and consumer electronics makers if banks haven't adopted them already, says appointment-software firm Financial Management Solutions.

It used to be that chargebacks were just another cost of doing business. But with the e-commerce world growing by leaps and bounds, online merchants are experiencing a corresponding spike in chargeback rates that's eroding their bottom lines and jeopardizing their merchant accounts.

Merchants today face the daunting task of investing in several payment technology upgrades at once, and the confusion surrounding this process could bolster many pre-existing security vulnerabilities, argues point of sale security expert Chris Strand.