Wednesday, June 1, 2011

After Filing for 200 NFC Patents, Inside Secure Files for IPO

From EETimes


NFC player Inside Secure files for IPO

Peter Clarke 6/1/2011 12:47 PM EDT


LONDON – Inside Secure SA, a fabless supplier of near field communication (NFC) chips has filed papers for an initial public offering of shares on the Euronext exchange in Paris, according to reports. The company, which was founded as Inside Contactless in 1995 and has been venture capital backed, is looking to raise between 80 million and 100 million euro (about $115 million to $144 million). The move is being made on the prospects for NFC chips in mobile phones to enable them to be used as electronic wallets and as a means of paying for goods and services.  Inside Secure (Aix-en-Provence, France) has hired BNP Paribas and Jeffries to prepare for the IPO, according to Reuters report.  The French company, has filed over 200 patents for near field communications.  read more

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Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Post says: "Time for Chip and PIN"

finextra:  Atlanta Fed staffer questions value of PCI guidelines

The US payments industry should reconsider the value of PCI compliance guidance in the light of increasingly sophisticated skimming attacks and instead consider mitigating risk by moving to chip and PIN, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta staffer.  In a post on the Atlanta Fed's Portals and Rail blog, Cindy Merritt, assistant director of the retail payments risk forum, calls into question the value of Payment Card Industry (PCI) data security council guidelines in a mag-stripe country.
Here's her post: 


Stemming the rising tide of card breach incidents: PCI compliance or chip-and-pin?

Incidents of card data breaches continue to rise despite industry efforts to safeguard customer payment information in transactions with merchants. Arts and crafts retailer Michaels was the most recent target of a large data breach. The company announced on May 4 that several of its stores, including three in Atlanta, had been victimized by card-terminal tampering and that customer credit and debit card information might have been compromised. The tampering activity enabled card data skimming, a scheme used to clone cards to create new counterfeit cards or to make payments online illegally using the customer's stolen identity.
The Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Council guidelines have promoted advances in the way the industry addresses card data security–but in many ways, the PCI guidelines are necessary, unfortunately, because of cards that use mag-stripe technology instead of the more secure chip-and-pin technology, a subject we've blogged on before. With this in mind, is it time to reexamine the long-term effectiveness of PCI guidance as a mitigation solution for payment card skimming fraud?
The growing incidence of skimming schemes
Many are the potential ways for criminals to gain access to card data from credit or debit card transactions today. For example, criminals use various forms of social engineering to install malware over the Internet on victims' PCs to gain access to personal and financial information that they can use to commit payments crimes. Another increasingly worrisome method is card skimming, a scheme that takes place at an ATM or a merchant's handheld or stand-alone point-of-sale terminal. The criminal either embeds an overlay device in the existing point-of-sale card reader to harvest card data or replaces the pin pad altogether by swapping it for a bogus reader to collect card data. Data-skimming breaches give criminals access to the card information necessary to commit identity theft, create counterfeit cards, or use the card information online for illegal purchases.
Bankinfosecurity.com describes the growing prevalence of skimming and payment fraud in an interactive 2010 timeline updated through October 2010. The timeline describes reported skimming events and how the businesses and financial institutions were attacked.
The PCI security standards council has developed guidelines for retailers to best protect point-of-sale card readers to prevent card skimming, including how to detect device tampering. As schemes become increasingly sophisticated, however, these guidelines will likely be less and less effective—a possibility that should give the industry pause to reconsider the value of PCI compliance guidance in light of risk mitigation alternatives, such as a migration to chip-and-pin card technology.
Mag-stripe technology and global crime rings: A perfect storm
The continued shift of retail payments from paper to electronic formats makes online channels attractive targets for sophisticated global crime rings. In fact, the 2010 Data Breach Investigations Report published by Verizon attributes 85 percent of compromised records to organized criminal groups. These groups have established their own illicit marketplaces and online forums that serve as social networks for exchanging black market data harvested in skimming schemes and information on criminal services. The development of this geographically expansive criminal infrastructure online presents global challenges to law enforcement charged with investigation and prosecuting these crimes. In the future, as credit and debit card data become increasingly valuable commodities for these black marketplaces, merchants and financial institutions will likely be challenged by more advanced skimming schemes and possibly more expansive data breaches.
Fighting skimming fraud is challenging but so is technology change
The vulnerabilities inherent in mag-stripe technology are expected to contribute to ongoing skimming attacks in the future, not to mention the associated credit and debit card losses. Other countries, including Canada and many in Europe, that have converted to the EMV chip technology standard have effectively mitigated skimming. (EMV technology relies on an embedded microchip for data storage on the card instead of the magnetic stripe.) As more countries employ EMV, skimming in the United States is expected to rise. In fact, according to a recent article from bankinfosecurity.com, "...skimming has become a staple of Eastern European criminal gangs, who recognize the U.S. is one of the last holdouts on chip and PIN."
However, as my colleague Doug King noted in an earlier post, "the bad news for the United States is that a coordinated effort to migrate to EMV would be very challenging" because of our large number of card networks and payment card issuers, as well as the multitude of acceptance locations in the marketplace. For now, market participants—and in particular, the merchants—will need to be on guard against increasingly sophisticated skimming schemes perpetrated by organized crime rings.
Cindy MerrittBy Cindy Merritt, assistant director of the Retail Payments Risk Forum

NFC Tag Tracks Product Warranties

From: NFC News
"Warranties are great, if only people can remember where they put them when they need them. That problem could be a thing of the past, with NFC technology and NFC tags. United Tecsta has designed a new NFC tag that’s supposed to stay attached to a product for the lifetime of its use.  The NFC tag would presumably be embedded in the inside of the product and would hold product warranty information such as sale date, price paid, warranty length, etc. The tag could then be read by a scanning device such as a modern NFC-based smart phone.  This would streamline the warranty process for both the business and the consumer. According to Fast Company, the consumer would no longer have to hunt down a piece of paper when claiming a warranty and the business could electronically track warranty claims with the manufacturer."
Read more at Fast Company here[end] 

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Gemalto to Provide Silicon Valley Bank with U.S. Issued EMV Chip Cards

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, today announced it has been selected by Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) to deliver U.S issued globally compliant EMV chip payment cards for their entire cardholder base. SVB will offer to its clients, many of whom travel frequently, the security and convenience of payment cards based on the Europay MasterCard Visa (EMV) standard. Gemalto also provides consulting on EMV migration, personalization, and delivery of the cards to the end-user.
“We believe Gemalto has the expertise and capabilities to meet our timeline and ensure a smooth transition for our clients.”
With a traditional magnetic stripe payment card, U.S. travelers are often unable to use them abroad, in particular at automatic unattended kiosks. This is largely due to the awareness in the countries that already adopted chip payment cards that a significant proportion of the residual payment cards fraud “is imported”, i.e. coming from visitors and users who use their less secure magnetic stripe cards to pay for goods and services. An October 2009 Aite Group study shows that U.S. cardholders feel “extremely frustrated” (74 percent) and “embarrassed” (56 percent) when their cards are declined overseas. Migrating to new EMV chip payment cards will enable SVB to fully address a growing concern for U.S. cardholders and offer them global card acceptance.
Starting with the SVB MasterCard World Elite portfolios, which are dedicated to cardholders that frequently travel overseas, Gemalto will provide SVB complete issuance services including full card design and production, secure data management and personalization of the upgraded cards, as well as ensuring global acceptance and forward compatibility for both online and offline EMV payment transactions.
Our main objective for this program was to shorten production time to get the cards in our clients’ hands as soon as possible, so we needed our partner to be experienced and respond quickly,”said Pradeep T. Moudgal, Head of Global Cards and Merchant Services for Silicon Valley Bank. “We believe Gemalto has the expertise and capabilities to meet our timeline and ensure a smooth transition for our clients.”
Gemalto played a key role in the first upgrade to the U.S. payment system in decades with the launch of contactless technology“ added Jack Jania, vice president and general manager Secure Transactions of Gemalto North America. “Now, consumers are asking for an upgrade to EMV so they can use their cards securely and conveniently overseas. It is very natural for cardholders to expect their payment cards to work anytime anywhere when needed, and we are delighted to be supporting SVB as one of the fast movers in the U.S. to address this critical customer need.
About SVB Financial Group
For nearly three decades, SVB Financial Group and its subsidiaries, including Silicon Valley Bank, have been dedicated to helping entrepreneurs succeed. SVB Financial Group (Nasdaq: SIVB) is a financial holding company that serves companies in the technology, life science, venture capital and premium wine industries. Offering diversified financial services through Silicon Valley Bank, SVB Analytics, SVB Capital, SVB Global and SVB Private Bank, SVB Financial Group provides clients with commercial, investment, international and private banking services. The company also offers funds management, broker-dealer transactions and asset management, as well as the added value of its knowledge and networks worldwide. Headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., SVB Financial Group operates through 26 offices in the U.S. and international operations in China, India, Israel and the United Kingdom. More information on the company can be found at www.svb.com.
About Gemalto
Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO) is the world leader in digital security with 2010 annual revenues of €1.9 billion and over 10,000 employees operating out of 87 offices and 13 Research & Development centers in 45 countries.
Gemalto is at the heart of our evolving digital society. Billions of people worldwide increasingly want the freedom to communicate, travel, shop, bank, entertain, and work—anytime, anywhere, in ways that are convenient, enjoyable and secure. Gemalto delivers on the growing demands for personal mobile services, identity protection, payment security, authenticated online services, cloud computing access, modern transportation, e-healthcare and e-government services. Gemalto does this by providing secure software, a wide range of secure personal devices, and managed services to wireless operators, banks, enterprises and government agencies.
Gemalto is the world leader for electronic passports and identity cards, two-factor authentication devices for online protection, smart credit/debit and contactless payment cards, as well as subscriber identification modules (SIM) and universal integrated circuit cards (UICC) in mobile phones. Also, in the emerging machine-to-machine applications Gemalto is a leading supplier of wireless modules and machine identification modules (MIM). To operate these solutions and remotely manage the software and confidential data contained in the secure devices Gemalto also provides server platforms, consulting, training, and managed services to help its customers achieve their goals.
As the use of Gemalto’s software and secure devices increases with the number of people interacting in the digital and wireless world, the Company is poised to thrive over the coming years.
For more information visit www.gemalto.comwww.justaskgemalto.comblog.gemalto.com, or follow @gemalto on twitter.

Contactless

Gemalto Media Contacts:
Jessi Marshall
North America
+1 512 257 3902
jessi.marshall@gemalto.com
or
Blair Poloskey
INK Public Relations
+1 512 382 8983
blair@ink-pr.com
or
Peggy Edoire
Europe, Middle East & Africa
+33 4 42 36 45 40
peggy.edoire@gemalto.com
or
Ramzi Abdine
Latin America
+55 11 5105 7659
ramzi.abdine@gemalto.com
or
Yvonne Lim
Asia Pacific
+65 6317 3730
yvonne.lim@gemalto.com

Ingenico works with Visa Europe to deliver contactless payments for London’s Black Cab Taxis

Neuilly sur Seine – May 31, 2011. Ingenico (Euronext : FR0000125346 - ING), leading worldwide provider of payment solutions, today announced the launch of a contactless payment solution for London's  famous ‘Black Cab’ taxis. The solution was developed as part of a Visa Europe-led initiative to increase card acceptance in London’s taxis.

Based on Ingenico’s leading iCT250 device with GPRS, contactless and colour screen, it will eventually allow all 25,000 London Black Cab drivers to easily access contactless payment technology while enhancing the consumer experience when commuting in London. 

The solution will benefit consumers by making taxis more accessible by offering convenient contactless payments alongside traditional Chip and PIN and magstripe technology. It will also deliver for drivers the potential for increased fares, reduction in ATM stops, improved tip acceptance process and reduced cash handling. Ingenico’s solution, also allows for the delivery of additional Value Added Services such as mobile phone top up, which will further increase the revenue generated for the Black Cab drivers. 

Ingenico has again demonstrated its world class culture of innovation by unlocking the power of contactless technology for London’s Black Cabs’. Providing this technology for Visa Europe’s initiative has allowed Ingenico to deliver a leading taxi payment solution which will greatly enhance the consumer experience of contactless payments in London.” said Cillian Wright, Head of Global Partnerships in Ingenico.

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Debit Interchange Income Story Offered at No Charge Because Your Help is Needed

Press Release:

The flaws in the Debt Interchange regulation will be harmful to all credit unions. To help create changefour CU experts made a concise audio recording,explaining all facets of Debit Card, to encourage every credit union and its members to ask their Federal representatives to vote for 2 bills currently in Congress.  This recording is available at no charge. 

There is little time to change this regulation, which may have the greatestnegative impact of anything in the current business environment. If it takes effect as written it will harm your CU’s financial health, and provide zero consumer protection, for as long as it exists.

Carolyn Warden, John McKechnie and Hal Coxen shared their expertise in a conference call moderated by Dan Clark, a well-known CU consultant and consumer finance educator.  Clark produced a recording of this free conference call so everyone with an interest may have the information.

The 55 minute audio recording “The Debit Interchange Story”  is available to credit unionist and trade associations at no charge by going to: http://www.danclark.com/schedule/learn-the-interchange-income-story.  Left-click the link to download the file to your PC to play it right then, or right-click-it to save it the MP-3 file to your hard drive. Then you can transfer it to your favorite mobile listening devise.
Warden, a credit union profitability consultant,former NCUA examiner as well as participant in a family-owned business explained how the bulk of risk falls on financial institutions while the merchants get huge cost-savings as well as increased gross sales from debit card purchases vs. cash or checks. 

McKechnie, a respected credit union lobbyist, explained what message federal elected officials need to hear from their constituents to convince them to stop the Fed regulation slated to take effect July 21, 2011.  The Federal Reserve, which was charged with creating this regulation in a very short time frame, admits that the regulation and the research behind it are flawed.

Coxen, VP Marketing & Business Development of Consumers Credit Union shared their effective campaign in engaging voters to ask for change from their congressional representatives.  A copy of the email Coxen developed for this campaign is available, free of charge, on www.carolynwarden.com/freebies . 

Contact with Federal elected officials is needed now for there to be any hope for change.  The four experts who contributed to this free educational session believe it is worth your time and effort to prevent special interests including the largest retailer in the world, from introducing government-determined price-controls!  

Regardless of your party affiliation or economic philosophy this regulation has no benefits for people.

If implemented as written this regulation will reduce Debit Interchange 73%, below the cost of processing these transactions for the vast majority of financial institutions.  Further, the law mandating this makes no allowance for the costs of protecting consumers’ financial transactions or personal information which cannot be separated from Debit Card use.    This reduction in expense reimbursement will force many credit unions to either cut services, charge fees for is now free, or both.  Anything that limits consumers’ choices’ and financial protections’ cannot be good for America or Americans.

For additional information you may contact Carolyn Warden at 224-656-6081 orcarolyn.warden@live.com. John McKechnie can be reached at 202-544-9601 or jmckechnie@totalspectrumsga.com

Michaels Stores Hit with 2nd Class Action Lawsuit


Michaels Stores Inc., which disclosed that its checkout-line PIN pads were tampered with in Illinois and 19 other states, has been hit with two lawsuits seeking class-action status by consumers alleging that the arts and crafts retailer failed to safeguard shoppers' credit and debit card information and PIN numbers.The latest lawsuit was filed Friday in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Illinois by Libertyville resident Mary Allen, who said an $18.16 purchase at a Michaels in Vernon Hills on March 15 led to more than $1,000 in unauthorized transactions. read more

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Oberthur Technologies Announces the Appointment of James Hussey as Advisor to the Chairman of the Board

LEVALLOIS, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oberthur Technologies, one of the global suppliers of banknotes and secure solutions, announces that James Hussey has accepted a multi-year consultancy with the Company. Mr Hussey has spent over twenty-five years at the leading edge of the banknote and security printing industry and will act as Advisor to the Chairman of the Board.
“We are absolutely delighted to welcome someone of James’s ability and depth of experience to work with us. His detailed understanding of the market and long-standing relationships across the industry will be invaluable to Oberthur as we seek to continue to grow our banknote and security printing business.”
Mr Hussey will take up his appointment today, June 1 2011.
Commenting on the appointment, Chairman Jean Pierre Savare said, “We are absolutely delighted to welcome someone of James’s ability and depth of experience to work with us. His detailed understanding of the market and long-standing relationships across the industry will be invaluable to Oberthur as we seek to continue to grow our banknote and security printing business.
Furthermore, following press and analysts’ speculations, we want to clarify, without any reservation, that we have no intention of making an offer forDe La Rue plc.”
About Oberthur Technologies
Oberthur Technologies is a world leader in the field of secure technologies: systems development, solutions and services for smart cards (payment cards, SIM cards, access cards, NFC…) and for secure identity documents, traditional and electronic (identity card, passport, health care card), production of banknotes, cheques and other fiduciary documents, intelligent systems to secure cash-in-transit and ATM. Oberthur Technologies has 6,800 employees through 40 countries and 65 sites. The Group posted 2010 sales of €979M.

Contact(less)

PRESS CONTACTS
Corporate:
Charlotte LAFONT-MACHIN
Telephone: +33 1 55 46 71 23
Email: c.lafont-machin@oberthur.com
or
Press:
PRESS CONTACT:
M:Communications: +44 20 7920 2330
Louise Tingström (+44 7899 066 995)
tingstrom@mcomgroup.com

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SecuTrans Selects Hypercom’s Optimum Systems with EMV Payment Application

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. & MARKHAM, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Hypercom Corporation (NYSE: HYC) today announced that SecuTrans Bank Card Service, a leading credit and debit card merchant service provider in Canada, has selected and will deploy Hypercom’s Optimum countertop and mobile payment systems with SPOS32 MSR/EMV software application to its merchant customers. Hypercom’s systems replace an incumbent provider’s product and were selected in head-to-head competition with other global payment providers. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“Optimum sets a new standard for electronic payments through advanced security features that provide a safe shopping experience for consumers, dependability for merchants and the lowest total cost of ownership for customers”
“Hypercom’s Optimum systems with EMV software give our merchants the highest quality and most robust card payment systems on the market. And we can securely and remotely download the EMV application using Hypercom’s HyperSafe® Secure and Term-Master® Suite management systems to protect our merchant customers and their investment,” said Leon Tang, President of SecuTrans Bank Card Service.
“Optimum sets a new standard for electronic payments through advanced security features that provide a safe shopping experience for consumers, dependability for merchants and the lowest total cost of ownership for customers,” said Brent Smith, Country Manager, Hypercom Canada. “SPOS32 is our premier, feature-rich, off-the-shelf payment application for our Optimum products. The software will easily migrate to our next generation products, has an electronic cash register interface for use by an array of customers, speeds up transactions and bolsters card payment security.”
Hypercom’s high security PCI approved and Interac-certified Optimum fixed countertop and mobile payment terminals in Canada include the Optimum T4210 (dial), T4220 (Ethernet with dial), T4230 (GPRS with dial) countertop and M4230 GPRS and M4240 Bluetooth mobile card payment terminals.
For information on Hypercom’s full X509 PKI (public key infrastructure) HyperSafe® Secure security layer that is incorporated in every Optimum terminal, please click here.
For information on Hypercom’s plug-and-play Term-Master Suite terminal management system for customers to quickly and cost-effectively download, initialize and control entire terminal populations from one central location, please click here.
About Hypercom
Global payment technology leader Hypercom Corporation delivers a full suite of high security, end-to-end electronic payment products, software solutions and services. The Company's solutions address the high security electronic transaction needs of banks and other financial institutions, processors, large scale retailers, smaller merchants, quick service restaurants, and users in the transportation, petroleum, healthcare, prepaid, self-service and many other markets. Hypercom solutions enable businesses in more than 100 countries to securely expand their revenues and profits. Hypercom is a founding member of the Secure POS Vendor Alliance (SPVA) and is the second largest provider of electronic payment solutions and services in Western Europe and third largest provider globally.
SecuTrans Bank Card Service, under the operation of SecuTrans Inc. in Markham, Ontario, was founded in 2006. Over 5 years, SecuTrans has become a solid, fastest growing ISO in Canada. SecuTrans always cooperates with industry leaders and offers secure, flexible and affordable bankcard processing products and services to Canadian merchants.

Contacts

Hypercom Corporation
Pete Schuddekopf, 480-642-5383
pschuddekopf@hypercom.com

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Initial PCI Cloud Training Announced for 7/8/2011

PCI Cloud Training
(from csa-pci at 1-6-2011)
The initial PCI Cloud Training Class to be held in Silicon Valley on July 8, 2011, exact location to be determined. The first ever class dedicated to assessing and implementing PCI DSS controls in cloud computing environments covers how to think of and how to do PCI DSS in various cloud computing environments. Focused primarily on people familiar with PCI DSS, it starts from the hype-free cloud computing facts and then delves into key scenarios where PCI DSS and clouds overlap in the real wo... read more»


 
 Security worries a barricade to more cloud deployment: study 
 (from CSOonline at 31-5-2011) 
 Concerns about the security of cloud applications are keeping a significant number of organizations from going further with deploying more of the technology, according to a new report. CDW LLC, a provider of technology products and services, released its first Cloud Computing Tracking Poll. The research is based on a survey of 1,200 IT professionals in U.S. businesses, government agencies, education and healthcare organizations and was done to assess current and future cloud computing use. Th... read more»
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JCM Global and Techfirm Inc. Sign Memorandum of Understanding to Bring Pay-by-Mobile Phone Technology to Bill Validators


LAS VEGAS, NV and TOKYO--(Marketwire - May 31, 2011) - Technology development leaders JCM Global (TSE6418) (OSE6418) and Techfirm Inc. (JASDAQ: 3625) have signed a memorandum of understanding that will bring the two companies together to develop a pay-by-mobile phone solution for bill validators.
The MOU brings together JCM Global, the world's leading supplier of innovative automated transactions solutions for the banking, gaming and retail industries, and Techfirm, the leading solution developer for mobile phone applications based on contactless IC technology.
The companies will use their resources and experience to create a system whereby consumers will be able to use their mobile phones to pay for purchases at automated transaction centers that use bill validators to accept both currency and mobile e-money. The technology could be used in a wide range of JCM applications, from slot machines to kiosks to parking self-pay terminals.
Paying by mobile phone is common in many countries, such as Japan, where commuters frequently pay for train tickets using their mobile phones. The application uses contactless IC technology, commonly known as mobile e-money.
"This is an incredibly exciting field for JCM Global and Techfirm," said JCM Global President Aki Isoi. "Given the extensive research and announced plans from major developers, it is clear the mobile e-money technology market will grow rapidly as Android CS technology expands and becomes more available. Consumers use of mobile phones as digital wallets is spreading rapidly, and we have every reason to believe this trend will continue to grow globally."
Research suggests the timing is perfect for the arrangement. For example, research firm The Gartner Group recently announced that half of mobile phones will use Google's operating system for Android in 2011 to 2015. Additionally, "Gingerbread," the newest version of Google's Android, supports Near Field Communication (NFC), a technology to be used for wireless communication between various components, such as mobile phone and other devices. Further, Android has announced it will expand its support of NFC in the future.
Additionally, in a recent announcement, Visa Inc. Head of Product Development Jim McCarthy said his company sees a continuing acceleration in the shift from paper to digital payments, and that the company is exploring ways to create a secure digital wallet that could be used for every type of payment, and expects to release a solution this fall.
JCM Global is the world's leading supplier of innovative automated transactions solutions for the banking, gaming and retail industries. Its award-winning products set global standards with ground-breaking products like the iVIZION®, Universal Bill Acceptor (UBA®) and Vega-RC™ bill validators and the Intelligent Cash Box (ICB®). For information visit www.jcmglobal.com.
Techfirm is a leading solution developer for mobile phone applications based on contactless IC technology. The system developed by Techfirm is used for various applications such as major convenience stores' e-money and coupons for famous fast food chains. The Felica Networks exploit the Felica protocol in the deployment of leading edge IC technology for mobile payments. For information visit http://www.techfirm.co.jp.

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