Mobile Biometric Forecast

Mobile biometric forecast

There are a handful of drivers for adding biometric technology to mobile devices, says Alan Goode, founder of Goode Intelligence and author of “Mobile Phone Biometric Security Analysis and Forecasts 2011-2015.” Many mobile phones are easy to break into, enterprises are enabling users to use their own mobile phones and NFC payments may require additional security. Goode predictsthat mobile phone biometric security products and services generated more than $30 million in 2011 and that the market will grow to over $161 million in revenue by 2015.

“These are not phones anymore,” Goode says. “These are small computers which have access to a lot of private data and they’re accessing some sensitive networks. So these are devices which are being used all the time. We have them in our hands all the time. We’re glued to them, you know, we have a blue glare on our faces as we’re walking around about town because we’re constantly updating Twitter or constantly looking at Facebook and texting. So there’s much, much greater risk of these devices being lost or stolen. As authentication vendors look to enhance their solutions, I would think there would be greater use of biometric.”

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Samsung to Join NFC Mobile Payment Fray

Samsung eyes NFC mobile payments service

Samsung is preparing to enter the mobile commerce arena with an NFC-enabled mobile payments service in the works that offers contactless, online and remote payments, a source told NFC Times.

Samsung’s service will run on existing contactless payment technology, such as Visa payWave or MasterCard PayPass, and will come embedded on the handset maker’s future NFC phones via a secure chip.

Read the full article at NFCNews…

Silver Tail Systems Introduces Profile Analyzer to Protect Websites From Cyber Attacks and Fraud

SOURCE: Silver Tail Systems

Innovative Approach Combines User and Crowd History to Detect Online Threats

MENLO PARK, CA--(Marketwire - Mar 14, 2012) - Silver Tail Systems, the leading provider of web session intelligence, today announced Profile Analyzer, the world's first product to provide real-time analysis of both individual user behavior and crowd behavior on websites to identify malicious activity online. The pace of innovation delivered by websites has expanded the capabilities and value delivered by financial services and ecommerce companies to their customer base. However, it has also prompted cybercriminals to look for new ways to exploit web functionality to commit fraud and other attacks.

"Traditional monitoring and end point protection tools are not keeping up with the rapid advancements of cybercriminals. Organizations are under great pressure to protect their businesses and remain compliant with industry regulations while embracing innovation. Real-time analysis of user behavior is essential to achieving these goals," said Nick Edwards, Vice President, Marketing, at Silver Tail Systems. "Customers need full context of their users' behavior to accurately determine what is legitimate web behavior and what is suspicious. Profile Analyzer provides that level of visibility, helping customers unlock the new capabilities afforded by innovation on the web without compromising security."

Profile Analyzer builds upon Silver Tail Systems' ability to identify anomalous web session behavior by enabling individual user behaviors to be modeled against their own past usage history on the website to determine if their activity is legitimate or suspicious. This approach combines the baseline established by the entire crowd's website history with the context of specific users, increasing accuracy and response times to online threats.

In a recent Forrester report, Chenxi Wang, Ph.D., Vice President and Principal Analyst, writes that "Business analytics have changed the way that companies do business and approach decision-making. Security event data and logs are already approaching pervasive. But to derive accurate intelligence that you can act on, security analytics must be contextual."¹

Parameter Injection detection is also included with Profile Analyzer. Parameter Injection detection utilizes analytics to identify users being targeted by malware that modifies legitimate website content in the browser to request sensitive information such as social security numbers, debit card numbers, pin numbers and more without the users' knowledge.

"Our mission is to provide fans a safe, convenient place to get tickets to events they want to see, and an easy way to sell their tickets when they can't go. Maintaining integrity with our users' marketplace is paramount," said Robert Capps, Senior Manager of Trust and Safety at StubHub. "With Profile Analyzer we can monitor behavior on our platform and arm ourselves with the intelligence we need to identify fraudsters and protect our customers."

About Silver Tail Systems, Inc. Silver Tail Systems is a leading provider of web session intelligence and protects the world's leading websites against fraud and cyber attacks at the navigation layer. Silver Tail Systems' award-winning solutions are made possible by the unmatched expertise of its management and technology teams, who bring deep experience, know-how and personal commitment to protect their customers' businesses against online fraud. For more information, visit Silver Tail Systems atwww.silvertailsystems.com.

¹The Extended Enterprise: A Security Journey, Forrester Research, Inc., November 9, 2011

Guaranty Bank Protects Customers with IronKey Online Banking Security

Uses award-winning IronKey Trusted Access to reduce risk of account takeover and theft

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. AND SUNNYVALE, Calif. – March 14, 2012 – Guaranty Bank is enhancing online security to protect customers from cyber thieves targeting online banking users of ACH and wire transfer services.  The innovative community bank in Springfield, Missouri, which reaches its 100-year milestone in 2013, is offering commercial customers IronKey’s Trusted Access to give them secure access to the bank’s site at the point most vulnerable to malware attacks – the customer’s PC. The industry analyst firm Gartner estimates that cybercriminals have robbed banks, businesses and municipalities in the U.S. of more than $3 billion using financial malware. 

IronKey Trusted Access will be required for all cash management customers and offered to all business banking customers. Trusted Access allows the bank to meet and exceed new Federal Financial Institutions Examinations Council (FFIEC) guidance with which all financial institutions must comply in 2012 to reduce the risk of online banking fraud. 

“As a community bank, Guaranty takes pride in offering products and services that are custom fit for our customers’ needs, saving them time and making the most of their investment,” said Dana Montgomery, vice president and director of Corporate Services for Guaranty Bank. “With Trusted Access we know that our customers are protected against the latest attacks no matter what computer they’re using for online banking.  Trusted Access provides us a competitive advantage in promoting the bank and attracting new customers.”

The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) estimates that 39 percent of all computers are infected with crimeware designed to steal account information. Today's anti-malware software fails to detect these threats at least 75 percent of the time according to real-time research from SpyEye Tracker[1]. The FFIEC found these attacks compromise “virtually all forms of authentication.” As a result, online banking account takeovers are growing at over 150 percent per year based on research recently published by FS-ISAC (Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center). 

Trusted Access is offered to banks in a combination of software and cloud-based network services.  The software can either be downloaded or run from a secure USB device.  The Trusted Access Platform provides financial institutions with multiple layers of security integrated to dramatically reduce the risk of online banking fraud.  Trusted Access launches a protected, virtualized operating system and Web browser that will only work with IronKey’s Trusted Network and only allows the end user to access bank-approved sites using the secure browser. The secure Web browser protects online banking sessions from known and unknown crimeware. Unlike other approaches, Trusted Access assumes a client’s computer is already infected with the latest zero-day attack that would go undetected by anti-virus and other software technologies.  Even if a computer is infected with malware, the online banking session remains safe, secure and private.

“With IronKey Trusted Access, Guaranty Bank is providing its customers an effective means to prevent online banking fraud and meet the new FFIEC guidelines,” said Arthur Wong, CEO of IronKey. “The bank is taking proactive measures to protect the bank’s valuable reputation in the community from a problem that is costing the industry billions of dollars each year.”

For more information about Guaranty Bank and their Trusted Access offering, visit www.GBankMo.com or call 1-417-520-4333.  More information about IronKey Trusted Access is available online.

###

About Guaranty Federal Bancshares, Inc.

Guaranty Federal Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:GFED) has a subsidiary corporation offering full banking services. The principal subsidiary, Guaranty Bank, is headquartered in Springfield, Missouri, and has nine full-service branches in Greene and Christian Counties and Loan Production Offices in Taney, Wright, Webster and Howell Counties. In addition, Guaranty Bank is a member of the TransFund ATM network which provides its customers surcharge free access to over 100 area ATMs and over 1,600 ATMs nationwide. For more information visit the Guaranty Bank website: www.gbankmo.com.

About IronKey

IronKey’s award-winning Trusted Access helps financial institutions reduce the risk of online fraud, achieve compliance with Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) guidelines, and acquire new customers with a competitive advantage. More than 70 financial institutions secure their brands and billions in customer online payments with IronKey.

Ranked as the 14th best venture-funded company in The Wall Street Journal's "Next Big Thing," IronKey cloud-based services power Trusted Access and partner solutions, including Imation secure storage devices.  IronKey is freeing enterprises from the high cost, risk and complexity of managing the extended enterprise.  IronKey cloud services are used daily by over 3,000 enterprises to manage online access and data for over one million users.  Visit www.IronKey.com for more information.

Resources
Watch Trusted Access in Action: Crimeware Attacks Defeated guided demonstration.

“Protecting Online Banking Customers from Evolving Cyber Crime Threats” -- webcast explains the latest bank phishing attacks, the ZeuS Trojan and SpyEye, and why anti-virus software, firewalls and other conventional safeguards are not able to stop these attacks.

BillMyParents SpendSmart™ MasterCard® Card Receives Category Win at 2012 Paybefore Awards

SOURCE: BillMyParents

March 14, 2012 09:31 ET

BillMyParents Lauded for Best Youth/Student/Campus Prepaid Program

SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwire - Mar 14, 2012) - BillMyParents, Inc. (OTCQB: BMPI) (OTCBB: BMPI) has been named the 2012 Paybefore Awards best in category winner for Best Youth/Student/Campus Prepaid Program for the BillMyParents SpendSmart™ MasterCard^® card. In its 6^th year, the prestigious annual Paybefore Awards recognizes excellence throughout the worldwide prepaid and stored value industry. BillMyParents was one of three prepaid program finalists vying for the best in category distinction.

"BillMyParents is taking prepaid to teens where they are and in a language that resonates with them," said Loraine DeBonis, editor-in-chief of Paybefore and chair of the judging panel. "The company also reaches out to parents in meaningful ways and is getting results. BillMyParents is gaining significant ground with its SpendSmart MasterCard card because of its remarkable outreach as well as card features, including transaction alerts and real-time parental controls that promote responsible spending."

"It's an honor to have been recognized by Paybefore for having the best program in our category with our BillMyParents SpendSmart MasterCard card," said Mike McCoy, BillMyParents' Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Our goal is to be the best solution for families to manage and teach responsible teen spending, and with this win we can celebrate the acknowledgement that what we've created stands out and meets consumers' needs."

Paybefore publications are the leading source of industry news for the global prepaid community. The judging panel consisted of five industry experts who weighed competing program entries submitted from around the world in multiple categories. Criteria for winners included the demonstration of outstanding innovation, execution and excellence within each category.

For more information about BillMyParents, please visit: www.BillMyParents.com

Datacard Group Enables Enterprise Bank to Instantly Issue Debit Cards

Datacard^® CardWizard^® Issuance Software Installed in Enterprise Bank’s 19 Branch Locations

MINNETONKA, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Datacard Group, the world leader in secure ID and card personalization solutions, today announced that Enterprise Bank has selected the patented Datacard^® CardWizard^® issuance software and FCP 20/20 card printers toinstantly issue debit cards to their consumer and business customers.

“In addition to offering us the best overall solution – including products, proven integration, professional services and support – we chose Datacard Group because of their thorough understanding, expertise and knowledge of the industry”

The bank has installed the CardWizard issuance software and associated hardware in 19 banking locations throughout New Hampshire and Massachusetts. New customers who open a checking account with Enterprise Bank, as well as existing customers who need a replacement debit card, can simply walk into the branch and receive an unembossed personalized debit card in a matter of minutes.

“Being able to place a debit card in the hands of our customers immediately gives Enterprise Bank an edge over our competition,” said Brian Collins, senior vice president and eBanking & payment service director for Enterprise Bank. “Instant issuance has given us an innovative marketing tool that we can use to optimize our debit card program, and we have found that it is ultimately increasing customer retention, acquisition and cross-selling opportunities for us – which in turn helps our overall profitability.”

The new instant issuance program also enables Enterprise Bank customer’s to PIN and rePIN their debit cards at the branch locations. By enabling the customer to select their own PIN at time of issuance, there are no additional steps required for activation before the card can be used at point of sale terminals. This helps increase card usage rates, as well as cut down on costs associated with sending cards and PIN mailers through the postal service.

“In addition to offering us the best overall solution – including products, proven integration, professional services and support – we chose Datacard Group because of their thorough understanding, expertise and knowledge of the industry,” added Collins.

Currently, Datacard solutions issue millions of cards everyday worldwide and the company has thousands of instant issuance installations throughout the world, including both magnetic stripe programs as well as EMV^®-compliant smart card programs.

Uniquely positioned in the market to help financial institutions design any card issuance program that fits their needs, Datacard Group offers a Secure Issuance Anywhere™ platform, which provides customers the flexibility to issue cards and credentials anytime, anywhere, with complete security. This integrated platform includes scalable and flexible hardware, software, supplies and global support–combining central issuance or instant issuance, as well as emerging NFC mobile issuance and EMV-compliant programs into a single, integrated solution.

TSYS Executives to Speak at Global Commercial Cards and Payments Summit

March 14, 2012 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time 

COLUMBUS, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TSYS announced today that two of its executives have been chosen to participate in the Commercial Payments International Global Cards and Payments Summit 2012, March 21-22. The theme of the two-day event is “Driving Profitable Growth.”

“Dissecting the Opportunities and Challenges of Profitable Growth”

Kelley Knutson, executive vice president, TSYS International Services, will present in a session entitled, “Going Global — Leveraging Your Supplier for Portfolio Growth.” He will be discussing the global industry make-up, and trending both from a value proposition and underlying needs of the market. Knutson will discuss issues that keep issuers awake at night as they explore global expansion, as well as looking at what commercial service will look like globally as the industry moves forward.

Keith Pierce, group executive, TSYS Commercial Services, will be part of the advisory board discussion, “Dissecting the Opportunities and Challenges of Profitable Growth,” on March 21.

The summit will be held at the Hilton New York in New York City, from March 21-22, 2012. For more information, visithttps://www.commercialpaymentsinternational.com/events/detail/the-global-commercial-cards-payments-summit-2012/.

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Discover Financial Services Announces First Internationally-Issued Discover Cards

Image via CrunchBase

March 14, 2012 08:05 AM Eastern Daylight Time 

Diners Club del Ecuador Sociedad Financiera to Issue Discover Cards; Leverages Strong Diners Club Market Share in Ecuador

RIVERWOODS, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) today announced it has expanded its franchise agreement with Diners Club Ecuador (DCE) to include issuance of Discover cards in Ecuador. This is the first time in company history that Discover cards will be issued beyond U.S. borders.

“This agreement gives us the opportunity to expand our financial services product portfolio and introduce consumers in Ecuador to the Discover brand, which has a proven track record of success in the U.S.”

As part of the agreement, DCE has been given the exclusive rights to issue Discover cards in Ecuador and will sub-license the issuing rights to Banco Pichincha, the largest bank in the country. Currently, DCE owns a market share of more than 40% by sales volume in Ecuador through their Diners Club products, and the complementary Discover card product was designed to further grow market share in the country. Discover cards will be processed on the Diners Club network in Ecuador, which boasts 100% merchant acceptance.

The new Discover card will initially offer a basic version of Discover’s award-winning cash rewards program, Cashback Bonus, which includes up to 1 percent cash back on all purchases. New card products and features will be rolled out over time, as “cashback” is still a new concept in Ecuador. Cash rewards can be redeemed for a gift card once cardmembers earn $20 (USD) or a statement credit once they earn $40 (USD).

“Discover clearly will benefit from the success of the Diners Club Ecuador franchise, which is a dominant force throughout the country,” said Diane Offereins, EVP and President of Discover Payment Services. “By leveraging DCE’s strength and expertise in-market, Discover has a tremendous opportunity to build its brand globally and share its most compelling attributes – including best cash rewards, service and value – with the people of Ecuador.”

“This agreement gives us the opportunity to expand our financial services product portfolio and introduce consumers in Ecuador to the Discover brand, which has a proven track record of success in the U.S.,” said Pablo Salazar, president of Diners Club Ecuador.

For more information, please visit www.discover.ec

Discover Financial Services Announces New $2 Billion Share Repurchase Authorization

March 13, 2012 04:45 PM Eastern Daylight Time 

Declares Regular Quarterly Dividend of $0.10 Per Share

Company Receives Non-Objection from the Federal Reserve as to its Capital Plan Including Proposed Capital Actions through March 31, 2013

RIVERWOODS, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) today announced that its board of directors has approved a new share repurchase program, authorizing the company to purchase up to $2 billion of its common stock. The program expires on March 22, 2014, and may be terminated at any time. The share repurchase program replaces the prior $1 billion program that had $575 million of remaining authorization.

“We are pleased to announce the increase in our authorized share repurchase program and the continuation of our dividend to common shareholders, which increased by 67 percent last quarter”

The company’s board also declared a cash dividend of $0.10 per share of common stock, payable on April 19, 2012, to stockholders of record at the close of business on April 5, 2012.

“We are pleased to announce the increase in our authorized share repurchase program and the continuation of our dividend to common shareholders, which increased by 67 percent last quarter,” said David Nelms, chairman and chief executive officer of Discover. “These actions reflect the strength of our capital position and its resiliency across a range of potential economic scenarios, including the supervisory stress scenario prescribed by the Federal Reserve Board’s 2012 Capital Plan Review. We believe our capital plan leaves us well positioned for continued growth and responsible returns of capital to shareholders while maintaining significant opportunistic flexibility.”

The company expects to make share repurchases from time to time based on market conditions and other factors, subject to legal or regulatory restrictions.

Security and Privacy Concerns Remain for Smartphone and Tablet Users

MARCH 14, 2012 

Brands must reassure consumers that privacy protections meet expectations

Cost may be the top consideration when internet users around the world decide which PCs, tablets and smartphones to buy, but security and privacy issues are not far behind, according to data from Edelman.

Edelman’s February 2012 research found that just under half of internet users consider data security and privacy issues when they choose a smartphone—about the same as for a personal computer—and slightly fewer took this into consideration when purchasing a tablet. For both PCs and mobile devices, price and ease of use were more important factors than privacy when buying, and tablet purchasers took into consideration product warranties more often than security.

Despite the fact that security is not consumers’ primary concern when purchasing a smartphone, companies that want to foster consumers’ mcommerce habits need to factor in privacy as they develop mobile retail platforms. Smartphone security is important because the devices tend to go with their owners everywhere. Security is not as paramount on tablets, however, as these devices are often used at home, where the presence of a desktop or laptop computer may be the hub for secure activities like banking, reserving tablets for more basic web-browsing activities.  read more at eMarketer