Customers of USAA can photograph both sides of the check, send the images through an app and then void the check.
By SUSAN STELLIN Published: August 9, 2009
The Internet has taken a lot of the paperwork out of banking, but there is no avoiding paper when someone gives you a check. Now one bank wants to let customers deposit checks immediately — through their phones.
USAA, a privately held bank and insurance company, plans to update its iPhoneapplication this week to introduce the check deposit feature, which requires a customer to photograph both sides of the check with the phone’s camera.
“We’re essentially taking an image of the check, and once you hit the send button, that image is going into our deposit-taking system as any other check would,” said Wayne Peacock, a USAA executive vice president.
Customers will not have to mail the check to the bank later; the deposit will be handled entirely electronically, and the bank suggests voiding the check and filing or discarding it. But to reduce the potential for fraud, only customers who are eligible for credit and have some type of insurance through USAA will be permitted to use the deposit feature. Mr. Peacock said that about 60 percent of the bank’s customers qualify.
USAA may seem like an unlikely innovator in mobile banking. It ranks in size just below the top 20 banks in the United States, and serves mostly military personnel, though many of its products are available to anyone.
But with just one branch, in San Antonio, and customers deployed all over the world, the company has been aggressively developing an anytime, anywhere banking strategy. Three years ago, it introduced the option of depositing a check from home using a scanner. That laid the groundwork for the phone deposit feature, which USAA plans to offer on other phones this year.
Customers of USAA can photograph both sides of the check, send the images through an app and then void the check.
By SUSAN STELLIN Published: August 9, 2009
The Internet has taken a lot of the paperwork out of banking, but there is no avoiding paper when someone gives you a check. Now one bank wants to let customers deposit checks immediately — through their phones.
USAA, a privately held bank and insurance company, plans to update its iPhoneapplication this week to introduce the check deposit feature, which requires a customer to photograph both sides of the check with the phone’s camera.
“We’re essentially taking an image of the check, and once you hit the send button, that image is going into our deposit-taking system as any other check would,” said Wayne Peacock, a USAA executive vice president.
Customers will not have to mail the check to the bank later; the deposit will be handled entirely electronically, and the bank suggests voiding the check and filing or discarding it. But to reduce the potential for fraud, only customers who are eligible for credit and have some type of insurance through USAA will be permitted to use the deposit feature. Mr. Peacock said that about 60 percent of the bank’s customers qualify.
USAA may seem like an unlikely innovator in mobile banking. It ranks in size just below the top 20 banks in the United States, and serves mostly military personnel, though many of its products are available to anyone.
But with just one branch, in San Antonio, and customers deployed all over the world, the company has been aggressively developing an anytime, anywhere banking strategy. Three years ago, it introduced the option of depositing a check from home using a scanner. That laid the groundwork for the phone deposit feature, which USAA plans to offer on other phones this year.
Dubai has enacted a new Payment System Settlement Finality (PSSF) Law that creates the legal foundation for building a regional transaction processing hub for local processing of payments and other ancillary services.
The first such legislation in the Gulf, the new PSSF Law paves the way for the launch of a Real-time Automated Payments platform (Rapid) in the Dubai International Financial Centre, to provide transaction processing services to banks and their customers both in DIFC and the wider Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
Omar Bin Sulaiman, governor of the DIFC says: "The enactment of the PSSF Law forms part of a comprehensive infrastructure that DIFC is creating to catalyse the development of the financial services industry in the region."
He says DIFC has adopted legal best practices from Europe, Hong Kong and New Zealand, among others, to ensure finality of designated payments.
The legislation will assist Gulf-based companies in conducting legally sound payments within the region instead of having to use offshore infrastructures which often do not settle within local operating hours.
There’s no vaccine against card datasecurity breaches in the United States, and the prognosis for thispersisting ailment shows there is no fast cure, according to a recentreport, which also said it would cost an estimated $100 billion to fixcard security in the U.S. According to the report, "Merchants are in the most vulnerable position in the card data securityrealm and malware, counterfeit card fraud and card-not-present fraudcurrently top the list of threats. Of even more concern, card securitymay never be fixed, as criminals will always seek new ways to commitfraud."
That’s according to a new report released by research and advisory firmAite Group. The report, “Card Data Security: In Search of a Technology Solution,” which is based on survey responses from 29 individuals (mostof whom head up risk managment for North American issuing banks orpayment processors), focused on what the respondents thought weretoday’s biggest card security problems, the responsibilities ofstakeholders and possible card security solutions.
What did surveyors find as the most viable remedies for card securityissues? One promising solution, a shift from magnetic stripe cards toEMV architecture (the use of smart cards), may never come to fruition.The report stated that a decision to make the use of smart cards astandard practice is five to seven years away–or may never take placeat all.
“With the deeply entrenched magnetic stripe infrastructure in theUnited States, and the cost and effort involved in transitioningstakeholders to chip and PIN infrastructure, this may be the case,”Aite Group’s Nick Holland said of the survey participants’ predictionsthat standardized EMV architecture may never be a reality in the U.S.
However, out of the three biggest threats to card security–malware,counterfeit card fraud and CNP fraud–counterfeit card fraud is the onlyproblem that an EMV architecture shift could solve. There are otherpromising solutions to all three problem areas, the report said.
Editor's Note: HomeATM solves CNP (card not present) fraud by morphing a CNP environment (the Web) into a "Card Present" environment. By "swiping" vs. "typing" we render malware designed to steal your online banking login credentials and credit/card numbers useless. The data is instantaneosly 3DES DUKPT encrypted "inside" our device so that it is never in the clear. Rather than use the "web" HomeATM utillizes the Internet as a conduit to send the encrypted data packet to the processor.
End-to-end encryption of the card network, stricter policy enforcementsand process improvements, neural network monitoring and magnetic stripefingerprinting are all viewed to have a significant impact on cardfraud prevention. Overall, it’s the technological advances, such asdata loss prevention technologies, that are expected to make the mostpositive changes in the card data security landscape, Holland said.
A mouse found inside an automatic teller machine -- along with a nest it had built with chewed-up $20 bills -- gave an Oregon gas station employee the surprise of her life. The mouse, discovered Thursday, had thoroughly torn up two bills and damaged another 14 to line his nest. Employee Millie Taylor says she screamed and slammed the machine's door shut. The bank replaced all the money that wasn't extensively damaged, and the ATM has continued to work just fine. The mouse also got a reprieve: He was evicted from his nest but set free outside the station. Other workers at the Gem Stop Chevron in La Grande in eastern Oregon say they're mystified about how the mouse got inside the machine.
Editor's Note: Just goes to prove that a mouse and a PIN based transaction simply don't click!
A NEW TEAM IN PLASTIC LAND BELIEVES ITS RevolutionCard can compete with Visa, MasterCard, American Express and PayPal. The company, Revolution LLC, is wooing merchants with ultra-low transaction fees. The merchants in turn are recruiting cardholders with instant rebates and free merchandise.
A company founder, former AOL executive Ted Leonsis, who now owns the Washington Capitals hockey franchise, says Revolution has 700,000 cardholders and is on track to reach 11 million by 2011. It has proprietary software that enables ...
The Royal Bank of Canada announced its plans to become the first major credit card issuer in the country to offer both Visa and MasterCard products, a move that is being watched closely by the bank's rivals and is also expected to be a boon for consumers.
Until recently, credit card issuers such as RBC were limited to offering only one major credit card to their customers. Most major banks in Canada, including RBC, have exclusive agreements with Visa, while BMO has a similar arrangement with MasterCard.
Law enforcement group expects credit card fraud to grow
According to the 2009 Report on Organized Crime in Canada, the switch to Chip and PIN will have no impact on eCommerce credit/debit card fraud...(Don't Type...Swipe!)
...chiptechnology has no impact on the security of credit cards when used topurchase items online, by mail order or by phone. The increasing popularity of online banking will likely lead to an increase in credit and debit card fraud, says a new report from a group of law enforcement agencies.
In the 2009 Report on Organized Crime in Canada, released Friday in Charlottetown, Criminal Intelligence Service Canada outlines the state of organized criminal activity in Canada, from street gangs to global networks.
While officials said overall organized crime appeared to be neither growing nor shrinking, CISC expects to see more credit and debit card fraud in the future.
"The ease with which payment card fraud can be undertaken and the profitability of this activity make it an attractive market for both opportunists and organized crime groups," says the report.
Hackers are targeting online sites and using various methods to steal credit card information. With more internet banking, this criminal activity is likely to become more lucrative, and more common, the report concludes...
(click the picture on the right to enlarge and read)
Credit card fraud and Interac statistics provided by the Canadian Bankers Association showscombined annual losses due to debit and credit card fraud in Canada exceeded $500 million in 2008. Recorded losses from debit card fraud in Canada decreased slightly from losses in the previous year, while those from credit card fraud increased. The bulk of credit card fraudlosses are attributed to counterfeiting and fraudulent purchases, suggesting an increase in organized criminal operations.
Currently, hackers are targeting online sites and using malware and keystroke-logger programsto steal credit card data in order to bypass the need for skimming activity. This trend is likely to increase as online banking continues to grow in popularity.
A transition from magnetic stripe debit and credit cards to ones embedded with microchip technology is currently underway in Canada; however, a complete implementation of the technology is expected to take several years. Furthermore, chip technology has no impact on the security of credit cards when used to purchase items online, by mail order or by phone.
I learned that "the luck of the draw" has been re-categorized into a "a game of skill." At least that is the new mantra being pushed by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) in his new "IPAGOS" (Internet Poker and Games of Skill) bill.
Apparently the difference between "Internet Poker" and "Sports Wagering" is skill. And I've got the perfect example as to why...
What else would explain the a skillful art behind deciding to keep two kings and henceforth "drawing" three aces...to beat the three kings you didn't know your opponent had!
At the end of the day, they can spin it however they want...but the very fact that there are now (last time I counted) "53 co-sponsors" to Barney Frank's initial bill suggests that this Internet gambling thing is going to be re-legalized. The government needs the billions it will bring in and U.S. bettors drive 50% of the $16 billion Internet gambling industry anyway.
Personally, I don't gamble, (except entrepreneurally) So why do I even bother to cover this and how is it related to the payments industry?
The 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, prohibits financial institutions from accepting payments from credit cards, checks or electronic fund transfers to settle online wagers. Which means it also prohibits a "real-time" AML/KYC compliant bank card to bank card payment transfer application as well.
Here's some excerpts.
Online poker advocates upped the legislative ante Aug. 6 with the introduction of a bill in the U.S. Senate that would legalize online poker and other "games of skill."
The Internet Poker and Games of Skill Regulation, Protection and Enforcement Act (that's "IPAGOS" for short) would provide a U.S. licensing, regulatory and taxation framework to establish a legitimate American online skill game industry. The legislation would impose further enforcement against individuals and financial entities that accept illegal Internet gambling proceeds.
Despite the ban, Americans continue to gamble online with estimates showing that at least half the $16 billion Internet overseas gambling industry is driven by U.S. bettors. Since the 2006 law was approved, Internet poker players have contended that poker is a game of skill and should not be lumped in with other forms of online gambling such as sports wagering.
Bill sponsor Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) estimates that more than $3 billion in annual revenue can be raised by licensing and regulating Internet poker.
"Pulling Internet poker out of the shadows and into the light of the law, we have the opportunity to help our economy while protecting our families. By bringing "these games of skill into the mainstream", we can generate billions in revenue for businesses and the Treasury during these tough times," Menendez said in a statement.
According to the Silicon Alley Insider, Monday's outage cost PayPal users between $7 and $32 Million...
eBay's (EBAY) payments business PayPal went down Monday for about 4.5 hours.
Uptime monitoring service Royal Pingdom estimates the outage cost PayPal's vendors between $7 million and $32 million.
Pingdom: According to eBay (which owns PayPal), about $2,000 in payments flow through PayPal’s systems every second. This means that PayPal processes about $7.2 million in payments every hour for its users.
On its official blog PayPal has stated that the service was completely down, globally, for about one hour. So the outage cost PayPal users at least around $7 million. But PayPal also admits that it took an additional 3.5 hours after that before the service was fully restored, something we also need to take into account.
This means that the outage and following service problems cost Paypal users somewhere between $7 million and $32 million in lost payments.
Evan Schuman's "Storefront Backtalk" is reporting that MasterCard has published it's PCI fines in a move to remove itself from the PCI shadow of Visa...
MasterCard has become the first card brand to publish its PCI fines and related requirements, a move that could be the latest signal that MasterCard wants to step out of the PCI shadow of its larger rival, Visa. The dollars themselves do not reflect a radical change, although they do include some healthy increases.
“The noncompliance assessment structure now contains escalating assessments per violation within a calendar year,” said the document sent to members earlier this summer. “Maximum assessments for initial noncompliance for Level 2 and Level 3 merchants have increased to $25,000 and $10,000, respectively. Furthermore, the $500,000 annual aggregate maximum for acquirer noncompliance assessments related to program noncompliance has been discontinued.”
As for those escalations, MasterCard has grouped Levels 1 and 2 together. The first violation for those groups is $25K, jumps to $50K for the second violation, $100K for the third violation and $200K for the fourth. Level 3 retailers face first through fourth violation fines of $10K, $20K, $40K and $80K. Service providers that are ranked either Level 1 or Level 2 will see first through fourth violation fines of $25K, $50K, $100K and $200K.
Survey finds e-threats adapting to online behavioral trends
Editor's Note: If the cardholder "swiped" instead of "typed" then the malware would be rendered non-consequential. When the cardholder "swipes" their card, the cardholder data is immediately "encrypted" inside our PCI 2.x certified card reader with built-in PIN Pad. The 3DES DUKPT encrypted file is then sent via the Internet (not the Web) to a secure HSM. No data is ever in the clear so the cardholder is SAFE from the threat of Malware...and keylogging and phishing.
Mountain View, Calif., Aug. 7, 2009 -- Malware writing has become a full-fledged business -- shaped after corporate models, according to BitDefender®, an award-winning provider of innovative anti-malware security solutions. Today, BitDefender released the results of its malware and spam survey from January through June 2009, showing HTML newsletter-impersonating spam and web 2.0 phishing attempts witnessing a sharp rise.
Malware Threats in Review
During the fist six months of 2009, malware writers have continued their efforts to infect computer users in order to receive direct financial gain and/or to seize control over their machines. According to the report, Trojan-type malware is on the rise, accounting for 83 percent of the global malware detected in the wild.
While Trojans were the most active e-threats in the last six months, the notorious Downadup Internet worm caused the most damage to users. Downadup managed to infect a record number of worldwide computers (about 11 million) and made headlines of most, if not all, computer magazines and mainstream media. Targeting systems with unpatched MS08-067 vulnerabilities, the worm can send itself to any clean computer it has already infected on the same network and looks to gain access to file shares. Although Microsoft issued an out-of-cycle patch for the vulnerability, the infection is still in the wild, with hundreds of systems compromised on a daily basis.
"The Internet is one of the most important communications vehicles -- used for business, schooling and leisure. It has also become a channel for criminals to gain access to a vast number of computer systems, financial data and information," said Vlad Vâlceanu, Head of BitDefender Antispam Research Lab. "Cybercriminals are not going to stop looking for ways to enhance their e-threats, which is why it is essential for computer users to make sure they have a security solution in place that can provide them with advanced, proactive protection."
BitDefender found that during the last six months, the most active countries in terms of spreading malware were China, France and the United States, followed by Romania, Spain and Australia.
BitDefender estimates that more than 55,000 users fall victim to phishing scams each month, totaling an impressive 330,000 victims from January through June 2009. In order to successfully deceive their victims, phishers must impersonate (aka spoof) the genuine page as accurately as possible. However, while replicating the original webpage is simply a matter of copy-and-pasting, the spam message usually contains misspelled words and/or negligent formatting.
This is not the case with most of the phishing raids targeting Bank of America. Not only is the text impeccably laid out, but the phishing page has also been crafted with an unusual attention to detail, suggesting that the people responsible for the phishing attacks are a highly organized gang of cyber-criminals.
"Most importantly, unlike malware, phishing and spam are universal e-threats -- they work on any computer, regardless of their operating systems and security patches," Vâlceanu commented. "Extra caution and a highly-rated antimalware solution with antispam, antiphishing and antimalware modules are a must-have for anyone surfing the web."
To stay up-to-date on the latest e-threats, sign-up for BitDefender's RSS feeds here.
About BitDefender®
BitDefender is the creator of one of the industry's fastest and most effective lines of internationally certified security software. Since its inception in 2001, BitDefender has continued to raise the bar and set new standards in proactive threat prevention. Every day, BitDefender protects tens of millions of home and corporate users across the globe -- giving them the peace of mind of knowing that their digital experiences will be secure. BitDefender solutions are distributed by a global network of value-added distribution and reseller partners in more than 100 countries worldwide. More information about BitDefender and its products are available at the company's security solutions press room. Additionally, BitDefender's www.malwarecity.com provides background and the latest updates on security threats helping users stay informed in the everyday battle against malware. Source: Company press release.
Search engines account for much of the traffic to retailers’ web sites, and Google dominates search. That means any challenge to Google’s near-monopoly position in search is big news—and potentially good news—for e-retailers.
Google today faces a big challenge indeed, from software giant Microsoft Corp., which threw down the gauntlet June 3 with the launch of its new search engine, Bing. Microsoft is backing up Bing with a major national advertising campaign, has cut deals to make Bing the default search engine on millions of PCs and mobile phones, and says it’s willing to spend billions more to gain search market share.
And there’s one more reason to believe Google finally has a worthy competitor: Microsoft just might have built a better search engine.
Instead of just providing a list of links to web pages, Bing’s search results page categorizes results, makes it easy to refine queries, lets users track queries, provides a glimpse into the web page listed, and summarizes the content of consumer and expert reviews from across the web.
“It’s very cool to see someone making a bold move forward in search,” says Eric Archuleta, CEO of online musical instruments retailer Musician’s Hut. “I’m a fan of Bing. It’s helpful to me to find more information, instead of just an index. It’s going to be a great tool for shoppers.”
He’s not alone in praising Microsoft’s work. Bing “will so improve the search experience that users will demand other engines follow suit,” wrote analyst Shar VanBoskirk of Forrester Research Inc. in a recent report entitled “Bing: The Next Big Search Thing.”
Retailers are also high on Bing for another reason: It could give them an alternative to Google for paid search, and prompt Google, Microsoft and Yahoo to court marketers’ dollars with innovations and better pricing.
Amazon builds an Android app to let more customers shop via mobile phone
Amazon.com Inc. has introduced its latest mobile shopping application, Amazon App for Android, which is available as a free download to a user’s Android operating system-based device in the online Android Market.
The Amazon mobile app includes the experimental Amazon Remembers feature, first introduced in the e-retailer’s iPhone and iPod Touch app, that gives Android users two different ways to use their device camera to find and remember items available for sale on Amazon.com: they can either snap a photo of an item or a barcode and then receive a product match. For many photos and barcodes, matches are instant; other items take a few minutes, Amazon says.
Android is an open-source operating system that can be customized for Internet-enabled handheld devices. Amazon’s App for Android can be downloaded from Amazon.com/android_app, or by searching for “Amazon.com” in the Android Market section of an Android mobile device.
“Customers have been requesting an Amazon shopping application on their Android devices,” says Sam Hall, director of Amazon Mobile. “In addition to their favorite Amazon shopping features, Amazon App for Android users can use Amazon Remembers to easily keep track of the items they see in their daily lives and even instantly match photos and barcodes to products available at Amazon.com.”
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Debit is replacing Credit when it comes to consumer payment choices.
"As the credit-card industry reinvents itself amid a dismal economyand a new regulatory regimen, consumers are rebelling. They’re goingdebit.
Some 58.2% of card transactions are now paid for with debit cards,compared to 41.8% with credit cards, according to data from the NilsonReport. Debit cards now represent 38.3% of card dollars spent, comparedto only 26% in 2002.
Recent research from Javelin indicates that credit cards are nearly twice as likely to fall prey to card fraud."
Internet Gambling Payment Processor Charged With Bank Fraud, Money Laundering and Illegal Gambling Offenses
NEW YORK, Aug. 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Lev L. Dassin, the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Joseph M. Demarest, Jr., the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), announced today the filing of an indictment charging Douglas Rennick with bank fraud and other offenses stemming from his role in processing more than $350 million for Internet gambling companies. According to the indictment filed yesterday in Manhattan federal court:
Since at least 2007 through June 2009, Rennick opened a number of bank accounts in the United States under various corporate names, such as KJB Financial Corporation, Account Services Corporation and Check Payment Financial Co. In opening the accounts, he and his co-conspirators falsely represented that the accounts would be used for such purposes as issuing rebate checks, refund checks, sponsorship checks, affiliate checks and minor payroll processing. In fact, Rennick and his co-conspirators used the accounts to receive funds from offshore Internet gambling companies that offered, variously, poker, blackjack, slots and other casino games. Rennick and his co-conspirators then disbursed those funds via checks to U.S. residents seeking to cash out their gambling winnings. Rennick and his co-conspirators provided false and misleading information to U.S. banks about the purpose of the accounts because the banks would not have processed the transactions had they known they were gambling-related. In total, Rennick and his co-conspirators processed more than $350 million transferred from a Cyprus bank account to various U.S. bank accounts for this purpose.
Rennick is charged with one count each of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to engage in money laundering and conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business. If found guilty, Rennick faces a maximum term of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine on the bank fraud charge, 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine on the money laundering charge, and five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the gambling charge. The indictment also seeks the forfeiture of at least approximately $565,908,288, which represents the amount of proceeds obtained as a result of the illegal gambling and bank fraud conspiracies. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein.
Rennick, 34, currently resides in Canada.
Mr. Dassin praised the investigative work of the FBI and thanked the Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Internal Revenue Service for their assistance in the investigation. Mr. Dassin added that the investigation is continuing.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Arlo Devlin-Brown and Jonathan New are in charge of the prosecution, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Alberts is in charge of the forfeiture in this case.
The charges contained in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
NCR stays ahead of criminals through ethical hacking curriculum
Partnership withUniversityof Abertay Dundeeleads to proactive global security solutions for ATMs
DULUTH, Ga. –NCR Corporation(NYSE: NCR), the global leader in ATMs, is staying ahead of criminalhacking threats to ATMs by having academia help uncover potentialthreats first.
Working with the University of Abertay Dundeein Dundee, Scotland, NCR has developed the world’s leadingcorporate-academic alliance devoted to uncovering and addressingcriminal hacking threats posed to ATMs. Rather than reacting to knownthreats as they arise, the security intelligence gained and adoptedbetween NCR and the University of Abertay through the ‘Ethical Hacking’ program is designed to stop would-be hackers and viruses before crimes occur.
Approved and partially-funded through the United Kingdom ’s Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP), the awarded contracts represent a joint venture between the University of Abertay Dundeeand NCR Labs, the advanced development arm of NCR. The aim of theprogram is to ensure that consumer trust in self-service is notcompromised by criminal actions involving ATMs.
The current contract, the second to be approvedthrough the KTP, focuses on personal authentication measures requiredto gain access to ATMs. The critical knowledge of illicit access toATMs is an ongoing and growing threat to many ATM users.
“NCR is committed to holding its place as theindustry leader in defending the integrity of the ATM channel for thosewho place their financial trust in us,” said Mark Grossi, head of NCRLabs. “This relationship is one of the ways NCR stays at the forefrontof technology in our proactive fight against ATM crime.”
“The support from the Knowledge TransferPartnership and NCR has enabled the university to develop world-leadingresearch and education that have a significant impact on globalsecurity,” said Colin McLean, program tutor, school of computing andcreative technologies, University of Abertay Dundee. “We’ve enjoyed building a relationship with NCR and take pride in thecontributions these students have made in preventing unlawful criminalthreats.”
The success from NCR’s partnership with the University of Abertayhas led to notable achievements for both parties. The university hassince implemented an ethical hacking program and offers two degrees –Bachelor of Science and Masters of Science in Ethical Hacking.Additionally, NCR has incorporated the program’s findings on crimeprevention into its research and development to provide secure ATMsolutions to financial institutions.
All program proposals receive approval through theKnowledge Transfer Partnership, which was designed to capitalize on thewide-ranging knowledge, technology and skills found within the U.K. Each program is funded in part by the Technology Strategy Board and 17 other funding organizations.
NCR is a leading provider of hardware and software security solutions for ATMs. Among NCR’s ATM security portfolio:
NCR has sold more than 50,000 licenses of Solidcore for APTRA™, the only proven security solution to preserve system integrity and prevent malware on ATMs.
NCR’s latest family of ATMs, NCR SelfServ,is the first to introduce a protected USB architecture that isself-contained within the ATM, helping mitigate the risk of fraudulentconnection of unauthorized USB devices.
Fraudulent Device Inhibitor (FDI) is an externalilluminated hardware feature or kit that makes it difficult forcriminals to attach foreign devices on or around an NCR ATM card reader.
Intelligent Fraud Detection (IFD) is a uniqueapproach to countering ATM fraud. Designed to be flexible, NCR IFD candetect a variety of fraudulent devices that criminals may attempt toadd to the ATM fascia. The deployer receives an instant alert as soonas a fraudulent device has been added to the ATM, even before any fraudhas taken place.
About NCR Corporation NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR) is a global technology company leadinghow the world connects, interacts and transacts with business. NCR’sassisted- and self-service solutions and comprehensive support servicesaddress the needs of retail, financial, travel, healthcare,hospitality, entertainment, gaming and public sector organizations inmore than 100 countries. NCR (www.ncr.com) is headquartered in Duluth, Georgia.
# # #
NCR is a trademark of NCR Corporation in the United States and other countries.
San Jose, Calif., Aug. 6, 2009 -- TSYS Acquiring Solutions has Class A approved several wireless connectivity models of VeriFone's Vx Solutions product family. These new GPRS Class A approvals follow the July 16th announcement of VeriFone Vx WiFi and Ethernet products.
The wireless models newly approved by TSYS for Class A support and training are the:
Vx 510 GPRS
Vx 610 GPRS
Vx 670 GPRS - Pictured on Right
These Class A approvals provide TSYS acquiring clients with a full range of traditional countertop, WiFi and wireless products and bring VeriFone's total class A processor approvals in North America for the Vx Family to over fifteen.
VeriFone's Vx Solutions deliver a complete portfolio of solutions across all vertical markets. Based on the Verix platform, Vx Solutions provide a common user interface across multiple form factors as well as consistent software, PA DSS accepted applications, and support, resulting in lower cost of ownership.
About TSYS Acquiring Solutions
TSYS Acquiring Solutions is the pre-eminent supplier of acquiring solutions, related systems and integrated support services to the acquiring industry and its customers. TSYS Acquiring Solutions delivers comprehensive solutions and support that securely and reliably process billions of credit and debit transactions every year. From authorization and capture services to the clearing and settling of merchant transactions, critical customer support functions and information management services, TSYS Acquiring Solutions helps acquirers effectively manage and grow their merchant portfolios. TSYS Acquiring Solutions is a wholly owned TSYSR (NYSE: TSS) subsidiary.
About VeriFone Holdings, Inc. (www.verifone.com ) VeriFone Holdings, Inc. ("VeriFone") (NYSE: PAY) is the global leader in secure electronic payment solutions. VeriFone provides expertise, solutions and services that add value to the point of sale with merchant-operated, consumer-facing and self-service payment systems for the financial, retail, hospitality, petroleum, government and healthcare vertical markets. VeriFone solutions are designed to meet the needs of merchants, processors and acquirers in developed and emerging economies worldwide.
The Wall Street Journal's Jerry Dicolo reports that Twitter Says it was Hit By 'Denial of Service' Attack
Twitter Inc. said it's fighting off a coordinated Web attack that has made its popular microblogging site inaccessible for several hours Thursday morning.
"We are defending against a denial-of-service attack, and will update status again shortly," the company said in a blog post shortly before 11 a.m. EDT, Thursday.
In an update to the blog post, Twitter said its site is back online, but that the company is "continuing to defend against and recover from this attack." Not surprisingly, posts related to the cyber attack have soared to the top of Twitter's most popular topics queue now that the site is back online.
Social-networking giant Facebook Inc. also had network issues this morning, with some users reporting that certain features have been slow or not working.
Facebook said no user data was at risk and that the problems are now mostly resolved. The site is still monitoring the situation.
Denial-of-service attacks are a common weapon employed by cyber criminals to disrupt the working of Web sites. Perpetrators enlist millions of computers to attempt to access a particular site. The site cannot handle the massive increase in traffic, and is rendered inaccessible.
The day I saw the Apple commercial depicting an individual entering their credit card number into an iPhone I cringed.
Of course I do the same thing every time I think about someone "typing" their numbers into a box on a website. Last Friday ago in a post entitled: "In Two Weeks Your iPhone Will Be Hacked" I talked about the threats exposed at the Black Hat Conference in Las Vegas. Now I read that the iPhone 3GS is tantamount to writing your credit card number on a post it note and hanging it on your computer screen. (which is essentially the same thing as typing it into a box on a website...
All I can do is continue to repeat our mantra: "Don't Type...Swipe! (and remind you that you can't say I didn't didn't tell you so!) (Excerpts Taken From ZDNET and Wired)
"Apple claims that hundreds of thousands of iPhones are being used by corporations and government agencies. What it won’t tell you is that the supposedly enterprise-friendly encryption included with the iPhone 3GS is so weak it can be cracked in two minutes with a few pieces of readily available freeware. “It is kind of like storing all your secret messages right next tothe secret decoder ring,” said Jonathan Zdziarski, an iPhone developerand a hacker who teaches forensics courseson recovering data from iPhones. “I don’t think any of us [developers]have ever seen encryption implemented so poorly before, which is whyit’s hard to describe why it’s such a big threat to security.”
"The encryption functionality of the iPhone 3GS is so easy to crack that it is essentially "broken" when it comes to protecting sensitive personal data such as credit card numbers, according to a forensics expert and iPhone developer."
"I don't think any of us [developers] have ever seen encryption implemented so poorly before, which is why it's hard to describe why it's such a big threat to security," Jonathan Zdziarski told Wired.
With physical access to an iPhone 3GS and some free software, data can be extracted within two minutes and an image of the entire raw disk in about 45 minutes, he said. The iPhone decrypts the data on its own once the extraction has begun, Zdziarski explained in a video demonstration.
Zdziarski added that there are other weaknesses with the iPhone: Pressing the Home button, and even zooming in on a screen, automatically creates a screenshottemporarily stored in the iPhone’s memory, which can be accessed later.
And then there’s the keyboard cache: key strokes logged in a file onthe phone, which can contain information such as credit card numbers orconfidential messages typed in Safari. Cached keyboard text can berecovered from a device dating back a year or more, Zdziarski said.
Apple has been touting the encryption and other features to entice corporate users to the device. Nearly 20 percent of Fortune 100 companies have purchased 10,000 or more iPhones per company, the company said on its financial results conference call on Tuesday."
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