Network security

Visa's management faces an unwelcome choice: It can share more information about internal shortcomings or mistakes that caused payments to shut off temporarily, or get summoned to Parliament for a politically-infused public questioning.

Merchants, banks, fintechs and card networks may crave digital payments' treasure trove of data over cash's simple anonymity, but any weakness in a centralized ecosystem threatens the entire network, as Visa learned late last week.

It's too soon to tell whether a new button would replace Visa Checkout and Masterpass as brands. It's also unclear why consumers would choose another new payment option over the many options available today — such as PayPal.

Whether due to costs, growing cyber threats or other factors, a growing number of credit unions are outsourcing an important C-level security role.

Are the incentives for protecting card data so lopsided that merchants feel little need to do more? Or is it wrong to ask merchants to fix the faults in a payment card ecosystem they had little hand in creating?

A new cobranded Uber debit card from Green Dot’s GoBank unit gives drivers 3% cash back if they choose PIN entry when filling their tanks at ExxonMobil stations, affirming the persistence of PINs in an increasingly digital payments environment.

Japan’s financial regulator ordered further improvements at embattled cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck Inc. and penalized six others, including one operated by publicly listed GMO Internet Inc.

Payments security experts are warning of the risks to some merchants with payment systems that transmit cardholder data from the processor back to the point of sale from the Spectre and Meltdown computer chip flaws.

The recent explosion of activity around biometrics and other new forms of authentication should seem like a good thing for the development of connected commerce. But right now it's more of a wild west that needs to be tamed.

One of the indirect offshoots of Brexit is a government program that's designed to keep the U.K. relevant by lending a hand to new companies.
The program, FCA Innovate, may have a global effect by nurturing companies that aim to retire static authentication modes such as usernames and passwords.

To help its member banks avoid the nightmare of a data breach, Swift is requiring they take the necessary security steps to establish a strong baseline of cyber defense. And Swift intends to make sure its banks all follow the same procedures.

Consumers are increasingly concerned about payment card fraud, but it remains to be seen how much work they’re willing to do to protect themselves when they’re not directly liable for monetary losses from stolen cards.

PayPal has suspended the operations of TIO Networks, a bill-payment company it purchased earlier this year, following the discovery of security vulnerabilities that require investigation.

Because wearable payments technology is still considered experimental, it is important to address security before the market for such products gets much bigger.

As blockchain becomes increasingly popular, heightened levels of data protection and customer awareness of its use become a reality, writes Abhishek Pitti, CEO of Nucleus Vision.

American Express will launch its next generation of online authentication system, SafeKey 2.0, early next year with support for biometrics technology and mobile commerce.

As incidents such as the Equifax breach create more urgency to move beyond static identifiers and authentication methods, Visa is getting aggressive about pushing dynamic tools to vet and shield identity.

The auditing and consulting firm said Monday that it’s currently informing the clients affected and has notified governmental authorities after it became aware of the incident.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology is telling agencies and companies that collect or store data to change the way they have been protecting their networks — and its guidance is likely to soon spill over to financial services and payments.

All business categories are vulnerable to breaches, but hotels seem to attract the most attention.