NPC and Way Systems Release way5000

NPC taps Way Systems for way5000



Boston, March 11, 2010 -- WAY Systems, manufacturers of mobile POS solutions and National Processing Company (NPC), one of the foremost providers for merchant acquiring solutions announced today the release of the way5000, a credit, PIN-Debit, multi application, low-cost, pocket-sized mobile point-of-sale device. The way5000 will be fully supported and sold throughout the NPC sales network. It will also be a key product in NPC's vertical marketing program designed to attract potential wireless merchants across the country.



“WAY Systems is very proud to continue our partnership with a prestigious market leader such as NPC. The use of the way5000 to build vertical merchant markets for wireless solutions is precisely the path for growing the entire mobile market", said Tim McWeeney, VP, North American Sales for WAY Systems. “NPC is pleased to continue our long standing relationship with Way Systems, and is looking forward to the success of driving merchant solutions using the way5000, particularly in the vertically strategic markets we will be selling" said Ron Hinners, SVP at NPC.



About WAY Systems, Inc.

WAY Systems has designed, developed, tested and delivered end-to-end payment solutions for mobile merchants all over the world. Our products and services are designed to meet the payment transaction needs of mobile merchants and exceed industry security standards. We empower merchants to conduct business anytime anywhere and increase their revenue by accepting credit and pin based debit cards. WAY’s innovative mobile POS devices and dedication to service make us the ideal partner for you to conduct Transactions Without Boundaries. Users of WAY terminals are invited to explore the limitless possibilities of commerce.



About National Processing Company

Based in Louisville, Kentucky, NPC is the largest provider of payment processing services exclusively focused on small and medium sized merchants in the United States, and the leading merchant acquirer focused on the ISO segment. NPC provides its sales groups with unparalleled focus and support through industry-leading talent and technologies.





Source: Company press release.

UKash Expands Service in Spain

London, March 9, 2010 -- Ukash, the world's largest prepaid cash-issuing estate, has announced that it can now offer consumers 24/7 access to vouchers in 80,000 Telefónica phone booths across Spain, to be redeemed at any of the thousands merchants where Ukash is accepted.



Through a deal with Telepay, consumers can now purchase 'open-loop' vouchers at thousands of phone booths and ATMs in Spain and shop online with the simplicity and security of cash. This is in addition to the convenient methods of purchasing Ukash vouchers online and in over 5,000 retail shops across the country.



Telefónica is one of the world's leading global integrated telecommunications companies, with a presence in 24 countries and headquartered in Spain. Ukash has already been available from thousands of Telefónica phone booths since October 2008, but the vouchers were limited in terms of where they could be spent.



Now in Spain, consumers can purchase Ukash vouchers 24 hours a day from phone booths, ATMs and through online issuance, making it the most easily accessible e-cash offering in the country.



To purchase Ukash via Telefónica phone booths, users follow the prompts on screen and deposit coins for the voucher's value. Customers immediately receive their Ukash 19-digit unique code via SMS, which can then be used to pay online in a similar way to a credit/debit card number however without the need to reveal personal details, eliminating the risk of identity fraud.



Consumers can obtain Ukash vouchers at any time of the day from phone booths in fixed denominations of €5 and €10, and they can be split and combined for a more convenient form of online purchasing, by registering the voucher code at www.Ukash.com.



Commenting, Mark Chirnside, Chief Executive Officer, Ukash, said: "We are delighted that our partnership with Telepay continues to grow as we pursue our strategic plan to enable cash consumers to shop online anywhere in the world. Opening up the availability of Ukash vouchers across Spain 24 hours a day means that our virtual cash is one of the most widely available, innovative alternative payment systems offered to consumers in the country."



Commenting, Patrick Becker, Managing Director, TelePay: due to the massive number of phone booths in Spain Ukash now allow cash consumers to purchase Ukash almost everywhere in Spain. So it is practically impossible to be excluded to participate and transact in the e-commerce. We are confident that this new distribution network will help Ukash to grow even faster.



Globally, Ukash is available at more than 320,000 physical issuing points and spans 30 countries.



Source: Company press release.

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Zeus Online Banking Trojan Keeps Getting Better...for Criminals

It said "don't" click and yet you did.  Just goes to show you how easy it is to lure anyone with a mouse to a website that infects their PC with malware?  I'm kidding...no malware here...just making a point... JBF







ZeuS botnet code keeps getting better… for criminals

$10,000 will buy a ZeuS module that takes complete control of a compromised PC 



By Ellen Messmer, Network World   March 11, 2010 04:19 PM ET

New capabilities are strengthening the ZeuS botnet, which criminals use to steal financial credentials and execute unauthorized transactions in online banking, automated clearing house (ACH) networks and payroll systems.



The latest version of this cybercrime toolkit, which starts at about $3,000, offers a $10,000 module that can let attackers completely take control of a compromised PC.

The latest version of ZeuS gets around most of the advanced online authentication mechanisms used by banks today, with perhaps the exception of a transaction approval process based on at least two people...The latest version is also designed to blow through the most current defenses in place regarding two-factor and other authentication in banking systems, and is especially oriented toward facilitating high-dollar transactions of $100,000 or more."

Continue Reading at Network World

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Magento and PayPal Expand Relationship

Los Angeles and San Jose, Calif., -Payments Industry News- Magento, the global open source e-commerce platform, and PayPal today announced they are expanding their relationship to offer PayPal to online retailers through Magento’s open source shopping solutions. PayPal will be deeply integrated and promoted to merchants and developers using Magento’s service, making it even easier for businesses to get up and running with e-commerce and online payments.



Magento is one of the fastest-growing global e-commerce solutions. Its open source product gives merchants complete flexibility and control over the user experience, content and functionality of their online channels. In the coming months, merchants and developers who integrate Magento will have automatic access to PayPal’s global payment engine, which has more than 81 million active accounts around the world.



"PayPal is committed to offering our global payment service through open platforms, so working with Magento is a natural fit," said Osama Bedier, PayPal's vice president of platform and emerging technology. "We believe that Magento’s and PayPal’s services are ideal for merchants looking for a faster, more cost-effective way to do business online."



"We are thrilled to be working more closely with PayPal to introduce Magento to a new class of merchants, as well as offer PayPal to Magento's existing customers. PayPal's commitment to open source supports the community's efforts and helps to establish Magento as a leader in the e-commerce ecosystem," said Roy Rubin, CEO of Magento.



PayPal and Magento have agreed to co-market their services and will collaborate on product development. The companies expect to complete the next stage of their product integration later this year.



About Magento



Magento (http://www.magentocommerce.com/ ) is a feature-rich, professional Open Source e-commerce platform solution that offers merchants complete flexibility and control over the presentation, content, and functionality of their online channel. Magento’s intuitive administration interface features powerful marketing tools, a catalog-management engine and is SEO optimized to give merchants the power to create sites that provide an unrivaled and rich online shopping experience for their customers, tailored to their unique business needs. Magento is the ultimate e-commerce solution.



About PayPal



PayPal is the faster, safer way to pay and get paid online. The service allows members to send money without sharing financial information, with the flexibility to pay using their account balances, bank accounts, credit cards or promotional financing. With more than 81 million active registered accounts in 190 markets and 24 currencies around the world, PayPal enables global e-commerce. PayPal is an eBay company and is made up of three leading online payment services: the PayPal global payments platform, the Payflow Gateway, and Bill Me Later. More information can be found at https://www.paypal.com . Source: Company press release

CashEdge's Risk Management Services Prevent More than $139 Million in Client Fraud Losses in 2009

Hundreds of Financial Institutions Benefit from Industry-leading Risk Management Services

NEW YORK, March 12 /PRNewswire/ -- CashEdge Inc. (www.cashedge.com), the leader in Intelligent Money Movement™, announced today that the Company successfully prevented more than $139 million in client fraud losses through its comprehensive risk management services in 2009. The fraud losses prevented reflect the dollar value of potentially fraudulent transactions detected and prevented by CashEdge's risk monitoring services. Last year CashEdge moved almost $50B for partner financial institutions.



CashEdge's risk management uses proprietary technology and the insights gathered from managing risk for the world's largest financial institutions, to help its clients mitigate risk and decrease fraud exposure.



"As predicted, in 2009 we clearly saw a rapid evolution in online fraud," said Amir Sunderji, Senior Vice President and Chief Risk & Payments Officer at CashEdge. "New threats have emerged and fraudsters have become more sophisticated in their approach, making it imperative for financial institutions to have risk management processes and systems in place to monitor and adapt to such threats."



As adoption of online banking, including online account opening and funding and online funds transfers, has risen, so, too, has the associated fraud risk, especially in light of data breaches, which increased 55 percent from 2006 to 2009, as reported by Identity Theft Resource Center. This translates into increased pressure on financial institutions to act and to improve risk management.



"CashEdge's clients and their customers have enjoyed better protection than banks that do not have access to our sophisticated risk management tools," Sunderji added. "With forward deployment of our risk evaluation and mitigation strategy, transactions are stopped even before they are released into the network."



CashEdge's approach to risk monitoring, identification, detection, fraud prevention, and mitigation combines human intelligence with automation that focuses on critical points in the life cycle of a customer, account and transaction, individually and collectively. Through this process, CashEdge provides the most sophisticated risk management in the industry.



All of the Company's Intelligent Money Movement services, including Popmoney™, its new person-to-person payments service, are supported by CashEdge's risk management capabilities. CashEdge services are currently used at hundreds of financial institutions in the U.S., including seven of the top ten banks.



To learn more about CashEdge's Intelligent Money Movement Services, visit www.cashedge.com.



About CashEdge



CashEdge is a leading provider of Intelligent Money Movement™ solutions for financial institutions, including mobile and online person-to-person (P2P) payments, account transfers, account opening and funding, small business applications and financial account aggregation. The Company's clients include hundreds of leading financial institutions, including seven of the ten largest banks in the country, for which they move more than $50B every year. CashEdge's newest offering, Popmoney™, is a bank-enabled P2P service that is live at leading banks in the U.S.



CashEdge's industry-leading products include Popmoney™ for person-to-person payments; OpenNow®/FundNow® for new account opening and funding; TransferNow® for Consumers, which includes Me-to-Me and Third Party Transfers; and TransferNow® for Small Businesses, which includes Invoicing, Me-to-Me Transfers, Employee Payments and Vendor Payments. All CashEdge products are supported by industry-leading risk management capabilities that leverage proprietary technology to help financial institutions mitigate risk and decrease fraud exposure.



The above contains statements that are based on subjective views, opinions or beliefs of the management. The data provided herein is based solely on CashEdge's solutions and does not relate to any specific financial institution or client or the industry.



The Company is headquartered in New York with offices in Silicon Valley and India. For more information, visit www.cashedge.com.

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Visa Investor Day Morning and Afternoon Webcast Sessions

According to PaymentsSource, Visa is looking outside the US for growth.  Here is the complete web cast from the morning and afternoon sessions of Visa Investor Day

Visa Execs: Mobile Payments And Global Markets To Drive Future Growth

Visa Inc. is looking outside the U.S. for growth and hopes to derive more than half of its revenues from international markets within the next five years, executives from the card company today told investors gathered in San Francisco for its annual Investor Day presentation.

 

Read More >>

Investor Overview



Here are both the Visa Investor Day Morning and Afternoon Webcasts:

Webcast Visa Investor Day Morning Session (Replay) 03/11/10 at 8:00 a.m. PT Webcast Visa Investor Day Afternoon Session (Replay) 03/11/10 at 1:45 p.m. PT Corporate Profile Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, banks and governments in more than 200 countries and territories, enabling them to use digital currency instead of cash and checks. Visa has built one of the world’s most advanced processing networks, capable of handling more than 10,000 transactions per second, with reliability, convenience and security. Visa does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa’s innovations, however, enable its bank customers to offer consumers choices: Pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products. In fact, 70 percent of Visa payment transactions in the United States are not credit, but debit and prepaid. From the world’s major cities to remote areas without banks, people are increasingly relying on digital currency along with mobile technology to use their money any time, make purchases online, transfer funds and access basic financial services. All of which makes their lives easier and helps grow economies. Visa. Currency of Progress. Read more about Visa Inc. (PDF | 118 KB)

V (Common Stock) Exchange NYSE (US Dollar) Price $92.93 Change (%)   0.19 (0.20%) Volume 491,867 Data as of 03/12/10 9:42 a.m. ETMinimum 20 minute delay Refresh quote

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Cred-Ex Announces Mobile Payment Services are Now Available Through iPhone, BlackBerry and Other Web Enabled Smart Phones

SECAUCUS, N.J., March 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Cred-Ex launched a new service that brings the Company's payment processing tools to mobile devices. This service is called the "Cred-Ex m-Commerce Payment Solution." The technology includes a set of APIs (application programming interfaces) for brick and mortar merchants, e-commerce merchants and mobile developers. This tool will allow them to provide payment options to their customers within mobile websites, mobile applications and at point of sale of brick and mortar stores. The new service also allows for integration of the Cred-Ex Pay Vault platform. This feature allows customers to make purchases from their mobile devices using their revolving credit information stored within their Cred-Ex vault accounts.

Stephane Touboul, Emerging Payments Technologies CEO says: "We are very proud of our Cred-Ex mobile payment application. M-Commerce is undoubtedly the next trend in payment.  The Cred-Ex m-Commerce solution technology allows consumers to feel safe and secure using their mobile device to make purchases at their favorite retail stores without cash, debit or credit cards."  "We anticipate that our participating merchants will see a lift in ticket size and an increase in sales because of the ease of use for the consumers, and that thanks to this new tool, our banking partners will acquire more account holders and see an increase in charge volume," he adds.





For Customers: Mobile Shopping Made Easy



Customers using Cred-Ex's new Mobile Payments Solution (MPS) will first sign-up on the Cred-Ex web site, www.cred-ex.com. After this initial authentication process which includes credit approval and mobile phone registration, they will be able to make all future purchases from their registered device without having to sign in again. This includes the Cred-Ex Pay Vault functionality. Existing Cred-Ex account holder will only need to register their mobile device once, using their control panel on the Cred-Ex web site.



As the mobile Cred-Ex web site shows, mobile shoppers only need to take four steps to complete their purchase using the new technology. First, the customer clicks on the "Cred-Ex Widget" on their iPhone or BlackBerry, or simply goes to www.Cred-Ex.com from their web enable smart phone. This will direct them to Cred-Ex's mobile interface. From there, the customer will be asked to enter their registered e-mail, last 4 digit of SSN, the store-provided reference number and to click on "Submit". After the payment is authorized, the customer will then be provided with an approval code and an e-mail confirmation relating to their purchase.



Customers can download the Cred-Ex iPhone App directly from the Apple web site in the iTunes App store, or by clicking on the following link: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=356684313&mt=8



For Developers: No Extra Work Required



Developers and merchants already using Cred-Ex's patented alternative payment solution on their websites won't need to do any additional development work - the service will automatically detect when customers are shopping from a mobile device and will switch over to the new mobile optimized payment interface.



In other words, that means developers can continue to use Cred-Ex's flexible APIs they've already been using to build their applications and they don't need to go back and re-code anything to make the apps mobile-compatible.



Customers can now shop at brick and mortar locations of all participating Cred-Ex merchants with their web enabled phones, Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, Palm OS, Windows Mobile, Symbian, and Java devices.



About Cred-Ex



Cred-Ex (www.cred-ex.com) is the main brand of Emerging Payments Technologies, Inc. that has been a leader in alternative billing for over 10 years. Emerging Payments Technologies, Inc. began developing the Cred-Ex platform and brand in 2004 to lead the trend in online billing, e-Commerce, and now m-Commerce. Express Verifiable Authorization is the corner stone of the Cred-Ex process. Patented in 2007 (Patent # US 7,177,837,B2), it allows Cred-Ex to identify applicants and make instantaneous credit decision in less than 5 seconds. Cred-Ex senior management has built several major companies and are recognized leaders in the US and Europe in the alternative payments industry.Contact Information:

Business Development; Eric Gelb, Sr. VP Business Development, eric@cred-ex.com, 201-865-7600 ext 102.

Technical Support and Integration; Steve Leyden, Integration Specialist, steve@cred-ex.com, 201-865-7600 ext 107

Developers: contact Cred-Ex at support@cred-ex.com

SOURCE Cred-Ex

AVG Research Study Reveals More Than 40 Percent of World’s Malicious Websites are Hosted in the United States

Germany and China Round out Top Three Countries with Web Servers Serving Malware

AMSTERDAM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AVG Technologies, makers of the world’s most popular free anti-virus software, today unveiled the results of a research study which shows that – contrary to popular opinion – most malicious websites are hosted on US servers and not in other countries like China.

“The results of this study shatter the myth that malicious code is primarily hosted in countries where e-crime laws are less developed”

The AVG research study is based on the analysis of threats reported during the last 6 months from AVG’s 110 million worldwide users of its LinkScanner web security product. The research indicates an increase in malware serving web sites targeting end users, which typically focus on stealing online banking credentials, credit card information, personal identities and passwords to social sites.



The detection and analysis of exploits was based on AVG’s unique crowd-sourced methods for analyzing web content for malicious or dangerous intent as reported by AVG’s vast network of LinkScanner installations worldwide. AVG’s research shows that malicious code is not just an issue with outlaw servers located in countries with weak laws and lax enforcement. Monitoring active web servers serving exploits around the world indicates that 44 percent of the corrupted servers are hosted in the United States, followed by Germany and China at just 5 percent each. Many of these malware-serving websites are legitimate sites compromised by hackers to serve exploits on their behalf. In total, exploitive servers were found in nearly 4,600 locations throughout the USA.



It is important to note that this research makes no statement about who owns or is directing the efforts of these servers – for those criminals and/or criminal networks could be anywhere in the world – and they are.



“The results of this study shatter the myth that malicious code is primarily hosted in countries where e-crime laws are less developed,” said Karel Obluk, Chief Technology Officer, AVG Technologies. “Our research shows that malicious content is much more likely to show up on web servers in the U.S. than one in Asia or Eastern Europe. This makes perfect sense since the USA is a primary target market for the criminals and has rich and mature Internet infrastructure making the threats both highly accessible and cheap to host. What is most striking is the clear rise in the number of malicious servers in the last six months. Today’s hacking techniques are highly evasive so the average user cannot tell if a website is serving malware or not. A web security product is needed.”



Obluk continued, “Even more important to note is that, on average during this six month period, about 50 percent of the domains hosted on these servers were online and hosting threats only one day or less. This transient nature makes them very hard to find and add to traditional reputation-based protection systems in time to be helpful to users.”



As a preventive measure, users should look for web security protection when going online. AVG’s LinkScanner, included in all of AVG’s products, is a highly effective product to protect users from today’s malware in real-time. AVG LinkScanner is available for a FREE download at: www.linkscanner.avg.com  

Keep in touch with AVG

• For breaking news, follow AVG on Twitter at www.twitter.com/officialAVGnews


• For security trends analysis, follow AVG blogs at http://blogs.avg.com


• Join our Facebook community at www.facebook.com/AVGfree

About AVG Technologies

www.avg.com

AVG is a global security software maker protecting more than 110 million consumers and small businesses in 167 countries from the ever-growing incidence of web threats, viruses, spam, cyber-scams and hackers on the Internet. AVG has nearly two decades of experience in combating cyber crime and one of the most advanced laboratories for detecting, pre-empting and combating Web-borne threats from around the world. Its free, downloadable software allows novice users to have basic anti-virus protection and then easily upgrade to greater levels of safety and defense when they are ready. AVG has nearly 6,000 resellers, partners and distributors globally including Amazon.com, CNET, Cisco, Ingram Micro, Play.com, Wal-Mart, and Yahoo!

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Discover Financial Services Announces Actions to Further Enhance Loan Loss Reserve

RIVERWOODS, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) today announced that the company will record an increase in reserves of $305 million pre-tax in the first quarter 2010, which brings its reserve coverage to approximately twelve months of losses. This reserve addition results from a new analytical process that enhances management’s ability to estimate incurred losses on non-delinquent accounts.

Including the impact of the reserve addition, Discover expects to report a loss per share for the first quarter 2010 of $.22 to $.23.



Discover also estimates that the first quarter net principal charge-off rate for its Direct Banking segment will be approximately 8.5%, up from 8.43% in the fourth quarter 2009. The over 30-day delinquency rate is estimated to be approximately 5%, a reduction of approximately 25 basis points from the fourth quarter 2009. Based on current credit performance trends within its loan portfolio, the company believes that the amount of delinquent loan balances may have peaked in the fourth quarter 2009.



Discover plans to report first quarter 2010 results after the close of trading on March 16, 2010. A conference call to discuss the firm's results, outlook and related matters will be held at 5 p.m. Eastern time. The general public is invited to listen to the call by dialing 866-277-1182 (U.S. domestic) or 617-597-5359 (international) passcode 33082119, or via a live audio webcast through the Investor Relations section of the Web site. For those unable to listen to the live broadcast, a replay will be available on our Web site or by dialing 888-286-8010 (U.S. domestic) or 617-801-6888 (international), passcode 13388966, beginning approximately two hours after the event.



The replay of the conference call will be available through April 16, 2010.



About Discover

Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) is a direct banking and payment services company with one of the most recognized brands in U.S. financial services. Since its inception in 1986, the company has become one of the largest card issuers in the United States. The company operates the Discover card, America's cash rewards pioneer, and offers personal and student loans, online savings accounts, certificates of deposit and money market accounts through its Discover Bank subsidiary. Its payment businesses consist of Discover Network, with millions of merchant and cash access locations; PULSE, one of the nation's leading ATM/debit networks; and Diners Club International, a global payments network with acceptance in more than 185 countries and territories. For more information, visit www.discoverfinancial.com.

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