Mobile Payment Industry News: 10/02/08

Thursday, October 2, 2008

HomeATM CEO Appointed to Heart Health Advisory Board

Heart Health Inc. Appoints Innovator with 25 Patents to Advisory Board

Heart Health Inc. Appoints Innovator with 25 Patents to Advisory Board

(Marketwire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) MONTREAL, QUEBEC, October 2 / MARKET WIRE/ --

Heart Health Inc. (OTCPK: HHEL) is pleased to announce that the Company has appointed Kenneth G. Mages, the founder and CEO of HomeATM Payments and a contributing developer of the Heart Health Monitor (HHM), to its advisory board.

He will assist the company with research and development, writing patents, and developing new applications for the HHM as it moves toward FDA approval.

Mr. Mages graduated from the University of Illinois with a B.A. in Business Administration and Computer Science in 1978. He has more than 25 years of experience in leadership positions serving as CEO HomeATM and KGM Graphics Inc., CTO of Planetportal.com, and Director of BioBank LLC before it became HomeATM. He has contributed to the filings of 25 patents, including one for a method to enable secure transmission of PINs over the internet, and another for a DOS-based system to digitize artwork for the comic industry.

"We are honored to have Mr. Mages join our advisory board. Fundamentally, as a contributing developer of the HHM, his expertise will help us move forward with its design, and his vast experiences in diverse leadership roles will be an enormous asset in our abilities to achieve our ultimate goal of revolutionizing the heart monitoring industry," stated Michael Kron, Chairman and CEO of Heart Health, Inc.

Heart Health Inc. continues to move forward with the development and marketing of its GSM and USB enabled Heart Health Monitor. This device will allow patients to instantaneously e-mail or print their EKG results, enabling a trained medical professional to make a quicker diagnosis of the user's heart condition.

About Heart Health, Inc.:

Heart Health, Inc. is a holding company focused on the development and marketing of innovative, cardiovascular medical device products. The Company intends to revolutionize the way in which people monitor the health of their hearts using newly acquired products such as the Heart Health Monitor.

Safe Harbor Act: This release includes forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involves risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, the impact of competitive products, the ability to meet customer demand, the ability to manage growth, acquisitions of technology, equipment, or human resources, the effect of economic business conditions, and the ability to attract and retain skilled personnel. The Company is not obligated to revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this release.

Contacts:
Heart Health Inc.
Investor Relations
1-866-THE-APPL(E)

U.K. Blames Abroad for Increased Fraud

Some people say there's a woman to blame, but I know...it's my own damn fault
- Jimmy Buffet

"PIN's Blame Abroad...They're Not Smart...Oui Are"

After 3 years of dismal results from the highly heralded Chip and PIN platform, which embeds circuits (Smart card) onto the card, is this the beginning of a propaganda-laced campaign by APACS aimed at deflecting criticism off their (what might be aptly renamed "Phish and Chip") program?

According to every published article I've read, the common denominator is "It's not their fault...it's the countries that haven't followed their lead and incorporated a Chip and PIN system". So they're waiting for everyone else to "get smart" cards and then it'll be OK. Unfortunately for APACS, the US has absolutely no designs on incorporating that system, thus it looks like APAC'SOL. "Sorry about that chief"...

Here's a collage of information from various UK media outlets spewing their spin on the failed ability of Chip and PIN to reduce fraud.

To see APACS report click here

According to APACS, fraud losses for debit and credit cards increased to £307 million in the UK - compared to £267 million over the same period last year. This is a 13 percent rise.

The total amount lost to the fraudsters reached a record £301.7 million in the first half of the year - more than before chip and pin security was introduced in 2006. £121.2million - or 40 per cent of the total - involved fraud committed on cloned or stolen UK cards using cash machines abroad, a 190 per cent rise in just three years.

The figures were boosted in particular by overseas fraud, which made up 40 percent of the total. Phone, internet and mail order scams were another pressure point, fraud from which rose 18 percent to £162 million.

While card fraud fell from £219.5million in 2005 to £209million in the first half of 2006 following the start of chip and pin, it rose to £263.6million in 2007.

Although the banking industry insisted that card fraud would have continued to rise sharply if chip and pin had not been introduced, in reality it has provided only a temporary halt, with fraudsters finding new - and more lucrative - ways to operate.

Last month, police warned that many gangs have installed fake chip and PIN readers in small shops and petrol stations to record the information on a credit card's magnetic stripe. A security camera then notes the customer's PIN before the card is cloned and used at a cash machine, usually abroad. Police suspect the money raised is not only fueling the activities of international criminal gangs involved in drug running and prostitution, but also terrorism

However, Sandra Quinn, of APACS, insisted: 'Criminals continue to target those areas where we do not currently have the security benefits of chip and pin, causing increases in fraud abroad and phone, internet and mail order shopping fraud.

"Fraud abroad will be more difficult for criminals to commit as more countries roll-out chip and pin. (Last I heard, the US isn't going to spend the billions of dollars needed to roll out that program, so I would translate that as "Fraud abroad will continue to be easy for criminals...)

"To help tackle online fraud, we urge shoppers to protect their computer with anti-virus software, only use secure websites and use systems that make cards more secure when shopping online."

Nice System for ATM and Debit Fraud

TEXT-Nice System's Actimize gets deal with MasterCard | Markets | Markets News | Reuters

Actimize, a leading provider of transactional risk management software for the financial services industry and a NICE Systems (NASDAQ:NICE) company, today announced that MasterCard is using the Actimize technology to augment its ATM and Debit fraud detection capabilities for issuers.

Actimize recently enhanced its debit fraud solution by acquiring proven analytic models used today by MasterCard in its Fraud Monitor service, a real-time risk scoring and fraud prevention service for PIN-based transactions offered by MasterCard to its customers.

The technology is proven to fight ATM and debit fraud effectively across multiple card brands and geographies and used and tested by clients such as MasterCard and other card issuers.

The Actimize fraud detection analytics are unique in that their multi-dimensional profiles can be created and updated in real time to detect suspicious activities at the card, device, account level and many other dimensions.

"MasterCard, the industry's security innovator and a global debit card leader, values our new relationship with Actimize in delivering value-added real-time risk scoring and fraud prevention solutions to our customers," says Bruce Rutherford, Group Head, MasterCard. "We have already received affirmation of the value of this solution from our customers who use this technology and we are looking forward to further evolving the technology and models."

Amir Orad, EVP and CMO of Actimize, said, "Our strategy is to offer a unique combination of the best ATM and debit fraud analytical solution with a proven scalable enterprise fraud platform. The fact that our technology has been selected by MasterCard and offered to their members worldwide means a lot to us and our customers."

As a franchisor, processor and advisor, MasterCard develops and markets payment solutions, processes over 18 billion transactions each year, and provides industry-leading analysis and consulting services to financial institution customers and merchants.

Insider Traiting

Image representing Associated Press as depicte...

Image via CrunchBase

The Associated Press: Outsourcing aids many data thefts, Verizon says

By PETER SVENSSON – 11 hours ago

NEW YORK (AP) — The reliance of restaurant chains and retail stores on outside companies to handle credit-card processing and other information-technology functions is partly to blame for a rash of consumer data breaches over the last few years, according to data sleuths at Verizon Communications Inc.

Even a chain with thousands of restaurants might have only 100 employees in information technology, so it uses outside vendors for many IT functions, said Bryan Sartin, director of the investigative response team at Verizon Business.

"What happens is there's a lack of accountability on the third party," Sartin said.

Verizon's unit investigates a quarter to a third of the big, publicly announced data breaches that occur each year, and hundreds of smaller cases.

In recent years, restaurant and retail businesses have accounted for more than half of Verizon's 230 to 250 cases per year, according to a report Verizon was set to issue Thursday. It often finds that insiders at service vendors are part of the heists.

Organized data-stealing gangs "go to the call centers, the Web development companies, the content development companies, the business partners, the people who pick up the backup tapes," Sartin said. "They say ... if you hate your boss and you're in financial straits, we're your solution. Give us access to your customers. Better yet, give us your data."

In a typical case Sartin was involved in, the team was approached by a large oil company in Canada, with thousands of gas stations. Customers were finding spurious charges on their credit cards after using them at the stations.

The team soon figured out that someone at a technology vendor was responsible, but couldn't pin it down. So the investigators set a trap in the system, to see who accessed customer data.

"The trap went off on Saturday morning," Sartin said. "Hackers always think nobody's looking on Saturday mornings."

A police car headed to the vendor's office, and the culprit turned out to be a 21-year-old who supported the software that operated the gas pumps. He had sold lists of customer data to organized crime.

Many breaches don't happen through outsourcing. In one of the largest cases in recent years, the gang that stole 41 million credit and debit card numbers from chains including TJX Cos. obtained access through unsecured wireless networks, not through subcontractors' systems.

Still, Verizon's report advises companies to keep a tighter rein on contractors, including by limiting partners' access to only the data they need.

e-Commerce Expanding into Bricks and Mortar?

Using e-Commerce to Expand In Store Sales

In an article in eMarketer, they talk about the fact that the loss of sales due to "stockouts" has reached $93 Billion dollars and some retailers have responded with an e-commerce element inside their bricks and mortar locations. When you consider the cost of inventory, the cost of rent, the cost of build-outs, the cost of advertising "special occasions" or "blowout sales" then combine that with the fact that it's e-commerce driving the growth of major retailers, I would look for a different retail landscape within 10 years. Maybe this is the start...

Some retailers are providing in-store kiosks and wireless devices to let shoppers access a store's Website for product information or to place an online order, according to AMR Research.

"But the price listed on your Website was lower!"

Statements like this may not be heard in retail stores for much longer. Some stores have maintained Web-exclusive pricing or acted as if consumers never researched on the Internet before making a trip to pick up their products.

Yet nearly six out of 10 consumers in the US now use the Internet as their first choice for researching items purchased in a store, according to Nielsen Online, and smart retailers are bringing the e-commerce element to brick-and-mortar.

More than four out of 10 retailers surveyed said they offered such services, and nearly three-quarters said they planned to do so by 2010. Store kiosks can save the sale for retailers by creating "an endless aisle of products" when the store is out of stock or space limitations prevent the retailer from displaying its full selection.

The loss of sales to competitors due to stockouts measures $93 billion, according to the 2008 "Store Systems Study" produced by RIS News and research partner IHL Group. Another application of store kiosks is to provide customers with supplementary product information available from the retailer's Website.

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