67% of Banks Say Fraud Losses Have Grown Over Past Year

Latest research from Norkom Technologies exposes banks’ increased vulnerability to fraud and diminished ability to prevent it

Dublin, Ireland - 250 financial crime professionals working in banks across the globe say measures taken by their organizations to reduce costs in the wake of last year’s financial crisis are leaving them and their customers increasingly vulnerable to criminal attack.

Respondents in Norkom’s annual survey of financial crime fighting activities in the world’s banks, say that cuts to their own departmental spending plans are weakening their ability to keep pace with a rising tide of criminal attack and that general cost cutting across their businesses is further weakening the banks’ defenses.

• 71% of respondents say fraud attacks against their business have increased over the past year and it’s clear that, not only the number, but the severity of attacks is rising.

• 67% say their financial losses to fraud have grown over the same period.  For almost a quarter (22%) that growth has been greater than one-fifth. 

At the same time, around a third have seen their financial crime prevention budgets reduced.  For some, those cuts have been dramatic. 12% say they’ve lost a quarter of their anti-money laundering (AML) budget.  The figure is only slightly lower for fraud at 9%. 50% agree that general cost-cutting across their organizations is weakening their defenses.

“It’s ironic that the very actions banks are taking to shore up their damaged finances may sabotage their chances of recovery,” says David Dixon, Norkom’s Director of Global Solutions. “However, we do see a path out of the dilemma. There is clear evidence that advanced crime fighting approaches, underpinned by consolidated technologies, can reduce fraud losses and, simultaneously, reduce operating costs in crime fighting departments.”

Last year’s research revealed that 64% of organizations had reduced operating costs by up to 30% by using consolidated crime fighting technologies.  66% also said their ability to detect crime had improved by up to 40%.  This year’s research reinforces those findings.  79% of respondents using a consolidated technology approach said that it had allowed them to improve their ‘percentage of fraud detected’ performance (the amount of fraud detected and prevented as a proportion of total fraud reported to them by their customers).  63% have also seen their operating costs decrease.

There is clear evidence, too, that technology can help in another way, directly in relation to fraud. 56% of all companies using common case and workflow management tools within their fraud technology solutions are achieving dramatic reductions in their fraud losses, thanks to the ability it gives them to take action quickly to stop crime in its tracks.

“In the final analysis, two lessons emerge from this research,” says Dixon. "First, that attempts to save money by cutting financial crime budgets are likely to be counter-productive. Second, that fraud losses can be reduced through the use of consolidating technologies which, in turn, allow business processes to be streamlined. So, if the twin imperatives are to cut losses and stem costs, there’s good news on both fronts.”

42% of respondents say they now have a single software solution – deployed enterprise-wide – to detect and investigate AML; 17%, for fraud.  48% of the remainder have deployed an overarching technology that consolidates information from their different detection systems in order to enhance investigation management. A further 30% plan to implement such technology within the next 12 to 24 months.

For your free copy of Norkom’s research whitepaper, ‘Fighting crime – defending the bottom line’, log onto www.norkom.com/press/whitepapers.html.

NOTES FOR EDITORS

Research methodology

This report is based upon original research conducted among senior executives from a representative sample of international financial services organizations.  The respondent group covered the full spectrum of financial services companies including retail banks, commercial banks and integrated financial services companies.  41% of the organizations polled had assets between US$10 billion and US$500 billion, while 12% had assets over US$500 billion.

About Norkom Technologies (www.norkom.com)

Norkom Technologies (AIM: NORK.L, IEX: NORK.IE) enables financial organizations to take intelligent action, control defenses, and evolve strategies against fraud, money laundering, and other types of financial crime. By combining a unique investigative technology platform with deep domain expertise, Norkom has established a solid track record of reducing financial losses, protecting users’ reputations, improving operational efficiencies and lowering the cost of information technology.

For more information, please contact:

Fiona McLoughlin, Marketing Manager

T:                +35318739612       

E: fiona.mcloughlin@norkom.com 

Credit Card Launced by Mobile Network Operator

Credit card launched by mobile network operator



Mobile network operator mobilkom austria has launched a credit card, in conjunction with its wholly-owned bank and Visa Europe, that provides a range of mobile services.



The A1 Visa card is issued by Al Bank – mobilkom austria’s own bank – and enables users to collect points for a new A1 mobile phone, as well as providing transaction confirmation and answering queries via SMS. This means that after each transaction, cardholders receive a text message showing the amount and the receiver of the payment. In addition, A1 Visa cardholders are entitled to a mobile insurance package.



Hannes Ametsreiter, CEO of mobilkom austria and Telekom Austria, said the mobile network operator is the first player to offer its clients a combination of a classic finance product and mobile services.



Kurt Tojner, country manager for Visa Europe Austria, said: “We are happy to offer an innovative payment solution in co-operation with A1 that will provide users with a combination of mobile communication services and the large Visa retail network. This will open up the way to the development of mobile payment solutions, such as the use of Visa’s payWave wireless technology.”



Ametsreiter added that the co-operation between mobilkom austria and Visa Europe opens up many opportunities for new synergies. “The next step could be to integrate the A1 Visa card into the next generation of NFC-enabled mobile phones, thus creating a wireless payment method. The result will be an entirely new form of safe and convenient cashless mobile payment,” said Ametsreiter.

Issue: 2009/16 Date: 17 Sep 2009

How SSL Encrypted Web Connections Are Intercepted

	September 17, 2009		Published by	SearchSecurity.com

Threat Monitor

	How SSL-encrypted Web connections are intercepted
	Sherri Davidoff, Contributor Encrypted Web connections are routinely intercepted by enterprises for legitimate reasons. Unfortunately, attackers can use the same methods for tapping into "secure" connections, most often because of endpoint weaknesses. In this tip, we'll examine how enterprises and attackers intercept Web connections that are encrypted using the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol or its predecessor, the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol. Read more

Related articles by Zemanta

• Hackers find holes in Web browsers' privacy safeguards (seattlepi.com)


• Blog - New Flaws Reveal In A Creaking Internet (technologyreview.com)


• More holes found in Web's SSL security protocol (macworld.com)

Webinar: Global Payments Study Reveals Need for Increased Connectivity

COMPLIMENTARY WEBINAR Global Payments Study Reveals Requirements for Increased Connectivity Between Suppliers, Buyers, Banks and Other Trading Partners Guest Speakers: Laurie McCulley, Principal, Treasury Strategies Martin Bina, Treasury Operations Manager, European Shared Services, Caterpillar, Inc. Many corporations are challenged by lack of infrastructure to support routing and approval of payments.  As a result, many corporations still operate off of spreadsheets in a highly manual environment.  This causes poor visibility to cash out-flows, high operational costs and risk of fraud.  Compounding these challenges, many companies also rely on a fragmented array of systems for bank and enterprise connectivity. According to a recent SunGard AvantGard sponsored study, 30% of corporations in the 5B+ category are managing with 21 or more cash management banks. Additionally, 40% report that they are operating with 11 or more payment initiation systems, and 25% of the total have more than 21 systems. Core to a successful payments strategy is the value that can be generated for trading partners when true collaboration and connectivity is created.  The value is in gaining data transparency, efficiency and networking across the financial supply chain and the ability to accelerate the velocity of free cash flow.  Register Now to attend this complimentary webinar to learn how streamlining connectivity and consolidating data can help reduce friction and attain visibility across the EcoSystem of buyers, suppliers and other trading partners which can help facilitate supply chain finance and uncover hidden cash and opportunities.  Learn how advancements in bank and enterprise connectivity are helping set the stage for the future of supply chain finance. Webinar Topics: Overview of Key Findings Bank Communication The Role of SWIFT, SEPA, Payment Factories Best Practices from Caterpillar Approved for 1 CTP/CCM recertification credit by the Association for Financial Professionals Webinar Details: Date: October 1, 2009 Time: 11:00 AM EST Approximate Duration: 1 hour Guest Speakers: Laurie McCulley, Principal, Treasury Strategies Martin Bina, Treasury Operations Manager, European Shared Services, Caterpillar, Inc.

First Data Recognized for Exceptional Support of Military Employees & Families

CEO Capellas accepted 2009 Freedom Award in Washington, D.C.



ATLANTA - PIN Payments News Blog - SEPT. 17, 2009 - First Data Chairman and CEO Michael Capellas was presented with the 2009 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award today at the annual awards banquet in Washington, D.C.



The award is the highest recognition given by the U.S. Government to employers for outstanding support shown to their employees who serve in the National Guard and Reserve. Editor's Note:  KUDOS to First Data!



Rob Lawrence, Director of Vendor Relationship Management at First Data and Command Sgt. Maj. for the Colorado National Guard, nominated First Data for its efforts to support the National Guard and other military employees.



Capellas said, "I am honored to accept the Freedom Award on behalf of First Data's 26,000 employees worldwide. We are extremely proud to support our employees who serve in the National Guard and Reserves. They demonstrate their dedication every day whether it is serving our country or our company."



First Data offers a variety of benefits to employees and their families during military deployment. Some of these include providing differential pay between military pay and First Data salary and continuing family medical and life insurance benefits. Lawrence also cites Capellas' efforts to personally contact families of deployed service members as well as employees' activities such as sending care packages to deployed troops during the holidays and volunteering at local Veterans Hospitals.



"First Data has supported me since 1982 through an active duty leave of absence, three combat tours and more than 20 annual training periods," said Lawrence. "By nearly every measure, this company has gone to extraordinary lengths to support their guardsmen and reservists and their families."



The Freedom Award was instituted in 1996 under the auspices of the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) to recognize exceptional support from the employer community. More than 3,200 National Guard and Reserve members or their family members from across the country nominated their employers for the Award this year.



"In the eight years our nation has been at war, America's employers - almost universally - have done an outstanding job of supporting their Citizen Warrior employees," said Dennis M. McCarthy, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs. "These fifteen employers are the 'best of the best' this year. They reflect the powerful synergy that exists between the men and women of the National Guard and Reserve, and their employers."



In the past, First Data also has received numerous Patriot Awards and the Pro Patria Award, including several awarded this year.



About First Data

First Data powers the global economy by making it easy, fast and secure for people and businesses to buy goods and services using virtually any form of electronic payment. Whether the choice of payment is a gift card, a credit, debit card or a check, First Data securely processes the transaction and harnesses the power of the data to deliver intelligence and insight for millions of merchant locations and thousands of card issuers in 36 countries. For more information, visit www.firstdata.com.



About ESGR

Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) is a Department of Defense agency established in 1972 that seeks to promote a culture in which all American employers support and value the military service of their employees. ESGR recognizes outstanding support, increases awareness of the law, and resolves conflicts through mediation. More information is available at www.esgr.mil.



Media Contact

Elizabeth Grice, First Data

303-967-8526; elizabeth.grice@firstdata.com

Phillip Johnson, Susan Davis International

202-414-.0797; pjohnson@susandavis.com

Visa Takes It's Interchange Fight to the Streets

Consumers to Retailers: Don't Make Us Pay Your Business Costs



Source: Visa Press Release:  San Francisco, Sept. 17, 2009 -PIN Payments News Blog- Consumers believe retailers benefit far more from accepting credit and debit cards than they pay in costs, according to a new survey released today by Visa Inc. The survey also finds that consumers believe merchants see card cost acceptance as a part of doing business, much like paying for utilities such as electricity.



Retailers and their well-funded trade associations have filed lawsuits and are aggressively lobbying Congress to allow them to shift their business costs to consumers by allowing merchants to charge checkout fees whenever consumers use credit or debit cards. At the same time, national convenience store chains have launched misleading, in-store petition campaigns to cover for their checkout fee efforts.

"The response is loud and clear: consumers aren't buying the message convenience store chains and big retailers are selling," said Bill Sheedy, group president of the Americas for Visa Inc. "This research demonstrates that consumers are well aware that legislation is a Trojan horse that likely will lead to higher prices for cardholders while retailers pocket the savings."

Among the survey's findings:

• By a 2-to-1 margin, consumers say retailers should pay the cost of accepting credit and debit cards.
  
  


• 78 percent of consumers believe the value and benefits retailers receive from accepting credit and debit cards outweigh the costs of accepting them.
  
  


• 83 percent of those surveyed believe that any savings retailers realize will be used to increase their own bottom lines and will not be passed on to consumers.
  
  


• 91 percent of consumers say they are more likely to shop at stores that accept credit and debit cards.
  
  
  
  

The research shows consumers understand that retailers benefit greatly from electronic payments whether it is through guaranteed payment, increased security, acceptance, innovation or even store-brand cards that help build customer loyalty.



"Retailers want the best of both worlds - the benefits of card acceptance without paying the costs," Sheedy added. "This research shows that retailers who are campaigning for checkout fees or uneven legislative schemes that shift the cost of doing business onto the backs of consumers are risking a customer backlash."



Currently ten states protect consumers from card checkout fees, also known as surcharging, and Visa has rules that prohibit retailers from penalizing consumers who use their branded credit, debit or prepaid cards. Unfortunately, a number of retailers are seeking to evade Visa rules and state laws by attempting to shift their cost of doing business onto consumers who use electronic payments through checkout fees.



DON'T PAY ADDITIONAL FEES AT CHECKOUT

• Look for posted signs in stores (generally at the checkout counter) that advertise an extra fee for using a credit or debit card.
  
  


• Check store receipts carefully for card checkout fees. They often appear after taxes on receipts, sometimes next to obscure descriptions.


• Tell the checkout clerk or store manager that charging a checkout fee for using a credit or debit card is not permitted.


• If cardholders experience a retailer who is charging checkout fees, they should call their card issuer (by calling the number on the back of their card) and provide the customer service representative with the name and location of the retailer.


• Consumers who are subjected to payment card checkout fees in states  where they are protected by law may report the retailer to their state attorney general's office.
  
  

About the Survey



The nationally representative telephone survey of 1,000 adult consumers was conducted by Fabrizio, McLaughlin & Associates from July 20-23, 2009 and has a margin of error of +/-3.1 percent at the 95 percent confidence level.



About Visa



Visa operates the world's largest retail electronic payments network providing processing services and payment product platforms. This includes consumer credit, debit, prepaid and commercial payments, which are offered under the Visa, Visa Electron, Interlink and PLUS brands. Visa enjoys unsurpassed acceptance around the world and Visa/PLUS is one of the world's largest global ATM networks, offering cash access in local currency in more than 170 countries. For more information, visit www.corporate.visa.com .



Source: Company press release.

Discover Profit Triples with Antitrust Settlement, Cost Cuts

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES - via Wall Street Journal

Discover Financial Services' (DFS) fiscal third-quarter earnings more than tripled on payments from an antitrust settlement along with a 14% drop in costs.



Meanwhile, the credit-card company saw charge-offs rise while 90-day delinquencies showed a rare pullback from the prior quarter.



Shares recently rose 4.37% premarket to $15.99. Having doubled from a low in March, the stock is down 12% from a year earlier through Wednesday's close.



The credit-card industry is reeling from credit losses as the recession pushes the U.S. unemployment rate to its highest level in a quarter century. Hoping to offset those problems, Discover has cut jobs and marketing spending.



For the quarter ended Aug 31, the company posted a profit of $577.5 million, or $1.07 a share, compared with a profit of $180.1 million, or 37 cents a share, a year earlier. The latest quarter included $287 million from the antitrust deal with Visa Inc. (V) and MasterCard Inc. (MA). Payments will continue for several more quarters.



Pretax earnings at the company's U.S. card segment more than tripled to $913 million amid the antitrust gain. On a managed basis, which includes securitized loans still managed, Discover's loan-loss provision was $924.4 million, down 17% from the previous quarter and up 23% from the prior year.



Charge-offs rose to 8.39% from 7.79% and 5.2%, respectively and the 30-day delinquency rate rose to 5.1% from 5.08% and 3.85%. However, the 90-day rate slipped to 2.6% from 2.73% last quarter, although it was up from 1.88% a year ago. A slowdown in credit-card delinquencies will likely encourage investors that late payments and write-offs will be reaching their peak soon.



Credit-card sales volume declined 7%, highlighting continued cutbacks in consumer spending.



In June, Fitch Ratings lowered Discover's individual rating, an assessment of intrinsic creditworthiness excluding any external support. By becoming a bank-holding company, Discover got $1.2 billion in funds under the Troubled Asset Relief Program; it hasn't said when it will pay the money back, but may use some funds from a $500 million stock offering in July.





-By Joan E. Solsman, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2291; joan.solsman@dowjones.com

671% Growth in Malicious Web Sites - WebSense

Websense revealed the findings from its bi-annual research report. Its security labs identified a 233 percent growth in the number of malicious sites in the last six months and 671 percent growth in the number of malicious sites during the last year.



In the first half of 2009, 77 percent of Web sites with malicious code are legitimate sites that have been compromised. This high percentage was maintained over the past six months due in part to widespread attacks including Gumblar, Beladen and Nine Ball which aimed to compromise trusted and known Web properties with massive injection campaigns.



According to the report, efforts to self police Web 2.0 properties have been largely ineffective...

Websense Security Labs report - State of Internet Security, Q1-Q2 2009

The first half of 2009 saw a number of big exploits and an escalation of attacks using the dynamic elements of popular Web 2.0 sites to infect users’ computers and perpetrate fraud. Additionally, the Websense Security Labs found a massive increase in the number of malicious sites which increased 233 percent over the six month period.



Attackers continued to use blended threats (spam emails with embedded URLs) to lure victims to spam and malicious Web sites with 85.6 percent of all unwanted emails in circulation during this period containing links to spam sites and/or malicious Web sites. The rise of blended threats illustrates that Web security intelligence is a critical component of any email and data security strategy.



Today’s threats are leading to the Web, whether as the vector of the attack or simply the route in which stolen, confidential data is transmitted. Further underscoring the growth of the Web as the primary threat vector, during the first half of 2009 Websense Security Labs discovered:

-  233% growth in the number of malicious sites in the last six months and a 671% growth during the last year.

-  77% of Web sites with malicious code are legitimate sites that have been compromised.

-  95% of comments to blogs, chat rooms and message boards are spam or malicious.

-  57% of data-stealing attacks are conducted over the Web.

-  85.6% of all unwanted emails in circulation contained links to spam sites and/or malicious Web sites. 

These discoveries, along with details on other exploits and analysis of Web, email and data security trends during the first half of 2009 are explored in the Websense Security Labs “State of Internet Security” report.



The full report is available here: www.websense.com/downloadthreatreport



An archived Webcast presentation about the report can be found here: http://www.websense.com/content/ProductResources.aspx





Watch the video overview of the findings below, or by clicking here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNu1TXNYArI

Microsoft's Next Gen Financial Messaging Simplifies Payments and Integration into SWIFTNet

Microsoft Announces Next-Generation Financial Messaging Solution to Simplify Payments Processing and Integration to SWIFTNet

New Microsoft offering lowers the cost of messaging for corporate treasuries and financial services firms.



HONG KONG, Sept. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Microsoft Corp. today announced the Financial Messaging Service Bus, a componentized financial services industry integration solution built upon the highly acclaimed Microsoft BizTalk Server 2009. By providing pre-built service components, the Financial Messaging Service Bus simplifies mission-critical financial messaging for banks, payments processors and other financial institutions, and provides a solution platform for Microsoft technology partners. The Financial Messaging Service Bus not only applies to SWIFT or payments, but is extensible across all financial messaging systems as an integration framework allowing new solutions to be built and to co-exist with legacy applications as part of a technology renewal program. The Financial Messaging Service Bus supports Microsoft BizTalk Accelerator for SWIFT, which has been awarded the SWIFTReady Financial EAI 2009 label -- thereby achieving six consecutive years of SWIFT certification. The announcement was made at SWIFT's Sibos 2009, the industry's premier global financial services forum.



The Financial Messaging Service Bus cuts the cost of development, and speeds up the implementation process by providing reusable service-oriented architecture (SOA) components to simplify financial messaging integration, rather than requiring extensive onsite process engineering. It saves financial services industry clients and technology solutions partners substantial time and money in building and implementing payments and capital markets solutions.



"Financial messaging and integration are becoming commoditized -- and should be," said Andy Schmidt, research director for Global Payments at TowerGroup. "Banks need a simpler, more cost-effective way to re-engineer payments processes but should be ensuring that they don't reinforce silos. There is a real need to use out-of-the-box components that reduce the complexity of integration, and that both build on and with existing technology, to avoid building costly technology islands."



The Financial Messaging Service Bus utilizes the Microsoft BizTalk Server Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) Toolkit for data transformation and transaction workflow management, and extends the standard ESB to add audit trail and business activity monitoring specific to financial services. Furthermore, Financial Messaging Service Bus components can be integrated easily with Microsoft Office products, including Excel and SharePoint, for a complete operations management and business intelligence solution.



Financial messaging is the cornerstone for technology renewal in banks and other financial services firms," said Susan Hauser, vice president of Worldwide Financial Services at Microsoft. "Secure and reliable transaction delivery is essential to financial services firms, but technology solutions must also be cost-effective to implement and manage. Our long-standing partnership with SWIFT, and our commitment to support technology partners, uniquely positions us to provide these reliable and cost-effective solutions to all financial institutions."



In the past year Microsoft has added BizTalk Server support for Alliance Lite, thereby enabling SWIFTNet connectivity across the Internet.



"This new Microsoft financial messaging solution offering underscores the continuing strength of our global partnership," said Gottfried Leibbrandt, head of markets for SWIFT. "With this announcement, Microsoft demonstrates its continuing commitment to SWIFT clients and the global financial services community."



"Financial messaging is the basis for interoperability among banks in the global financial services community," said Darrell Cavens, director for BizTalk Server at Microsoft. "Microsoft is pleased to advance its relationship with SWIFT to bring world-class products to an industry that demands mission-critical, standards-based solutions."



The Financial Messaging Service Bus is currently available to all customers through select Microsoft financial services community partners. Zlatko Jegdic, eBusiness director of Saga, a longstanding partner of Microsoft in Europe, commented, "As a Gold Certified Microsoft partner, we look to leverage the technology stack for client solutions. The components delivered with the Financial Messaging Service Bus allow us to allocate more resources to developing value-add solution functionality and spend less time on messaging integration for our clients."



"Customers can lower the cost of financial messaging by simplifying the way payments processes are developed," said Andy Orent, director, Banking and Capital Markets, Financial Services Industry, HP. "Microsoft's platform aligns with HP's payments architecture, known as Integration Framework for Payments (IF4P), which allows customers to help manage cost and accelerate growth."



Financial messaging is a commodity service within payments and capital markets processing, and the Financial Messaging Service Bus is designed to provide a simpler, configurable approach to messaging that delivers significant implementation and operational efficiencies for financial institutions.



"One consistent challenge we see across the securities industry is streamlining the workflow and mapping between FIX and SWIFT messages," said Kevin Houstoun, chairman of Rapid Addition Ltd. and co-chairman of the Global Technical Committee for FIX Protocol Ltd. "Technology such as Microsoft's Financial Messaging Service Bus middleware and Rapid Addition's FIX Shortcut for Financial Messaging Service Bus holds great promise in overcoming this challenge, as it allows banks and brokers to automate these processes at a lower total cost than traditional software."



With the Financial Messaging Service Bus, Microsoft addresses the need for a systemic approach to messaging integration across the financial services industry. As a result, banks now can further leverage an investment in BizTalk Server as an infrastructure for payments and SWIFT messaging -- and extend that to support new financial applications in any geographic location.



Microsoft's Financial Messaging Service Bus delivers a number of benefits that lower the cost of messaging for corporate treasuries and financial services firms:

• By providing pre-built service components, Financial Messaging Service Bus simplifies mission-critical financial messaging for banks, payments processors and other financial institutions, and provides a solution platform for Microsoft technology partners.


• Financial Messaging Service Bus leverages the BizTalk Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) Toolkit data transformation and transaction workflow management, and extends the standard ESB to add audit trail and  business activity monitoring specific to financial services.


• Financial Messaging Service Bus greatly improves time to market for many complex solutions in the banking and capital markets industries.

Although applicable in many financial messaging scenarios, one key area is simplifying the integration to SWIFT for payment and FIX  applications.



Additional information can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/financialservices.



About Microsoft in Financial Services

Microsoft's Financial Services Group provides software that helps financial firms transform the customer, employee and operations experience so they can maximize opportunities for increased market share and profitability. Microsoft software helps empower people and IT staff within financial firms -- and across key focus areas such as advisor platforms, channel renewal, insurance value chain, enterprise risk management and compliance, and payments. Through a combination of Microsoft- and partner-provided solutions, customers enable their employees to turn data into insight, transform ideas into action and turn change into opportunity. More information about Microsoft's Financial Services Group can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/financialservices.



About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.



Source: PR Newswire

Related articles by Zemanta

• Microsoft Announces Next-Generation Financial Messaging Solution to Simplify Payments Processing and Integration to SWIFTNet (newswire.ca)


• Microsoft Announces Major Initiative to Support CitiDirect BE, Citi's Next-Generation Institutional E-Banking Platform (newswire.ca)


• Microsoft and M-Com Deliver Mobile Payments Solution Globally (newswire.ca)


• Microsoft pulls covers off Project 2010 (computerworld.com)

Gemalto’s Trusted Services Management Solution Certified by MasterCard

Supports financial institutions in commercial rollout of mobile NFC payment services

Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Taipei, Taiwan, September 17, 2009 – PIN Payments News Blog - Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, today announced it has achieved MasterCard certification for its TSM (Trusted Services Management) offer. The achievement demonstrates Gemalto’s readiness for supporting commercial launches of mobile contactless payment programs, according to MasterCard’s security requirements. This certification immediately applies to Gemalto’s Taiwan-based data center and enables the company to support financial institutions in the deployment of their Near Field Communications (NFC) services on mobile phones. NFC technology is the wireless connectivity standard endorsed by the industry for data transfer over the mobile phone.



Gemalto's services allow for the secure deployment and management of contactless mobile payment. The certification establishes that MasterCard recognizes and endorses the company’s ability to manage personal user information for banking transactions. For financial institutions, this is assurance that they can rollout their payment services on mobile phones with the highest level of security and data confidentiality.

“MasterCard works alongside vendors to offer secure NFC payment solutions to its issuing banks,” commented Andrew Smith, vice president, Mobile Center of Excellence, Asia/Pacific, Middle East & Africa, MasterCard Worldwide. “We are pleased to collaborate with technological enablers like Gemalto that will allow financial institutions to rollout NFC MasterCard® PayPass™ mobile services safely, adding ease to Taiwanese consumers’ fast-paced lifestyles and spurring the growth of contactless payments in the market.”



“The role of the Trusted Services Manager is to provide independent, secure channels for service providers to conveniently engage their customer base into the mobile world,” added Tan Teck Lee, president of Gemalto Asia. “It is a role built on security, interoperability and trust, which facilitates business between mobile network operators and service providers. We are very proud to receive this certification from MasterCard, which acknowledges Gemalto’s ability to fulfill this role.”



About Gemalto



Gemalto (Euronext NL 0000400653 GTO) is the world leader in digital security with 2008 annual revenues of €1.68 billion, and 10,000 employees operating out of 75 offices, research and service centers in 40 countries.



Gemalto is at the heart of our evolving digital society. The freedom to communicate, travel, shop, bank, entertain, and work—anytime, anywhere—has become an integral part of what people want and expect, in ways that are convenient, enjoyable and secure.



Gemalto delivers on the growing demands of billions of people worldwide for mobile connectivity, identity and data protection, credit card safety, health and transportation services, e-government and national security. We do this by supplying to governments, wireless operators, banks and enterprises a wide range of secure personal devices, such as subscriber identification modules (SIM), Universal Identity Circuit Cards (UICC) in mobile phones, smart banking cards, smart card access badges, electronic passports, and USB tokens for online identity protection. To complete the solution we also provide software, systems and services to help our 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 please visit www.gemalto.com.

IPF to Go Live with US/Europe Payments in 2010

17 September 2009 - 05:36 -Finextra



The International Payments Framework (IPF), an industry group aiming to simplify cross-border payments, is set to go live with the first stage of its payments plan in January 2010.



Once live, the framework will connect the payment processes of Federal Reserve Banks in the US and IPF member banks in Europe through the use of a transfer protocol based on the ISO20022 standard. The resulting link between domestic and international ACH systems will make it possibel to send pounds sterling to GBP accounts and USD dollars to USD or euro accounts help in Europe...

Continue Reading at Finextra

About IPF



The International Payments Framework (IPF) provides rules, standards, operating procedures, and guidelines to improve cross-border payments. And because globalization is driving a broader base of clients who demand a more cost-effective, less complex, and more certain payment service with a wider reach, standardization is more important than ever.



In 3 to 5 years, this membership driven organization is expected to enable multi-currency, non-urgent payments to any other member organization; whether through a clearing and settlement mechanism or directly through member banks, utilizing the same standardized process and operating procedures. This will allow member organizations to offer their clients payments to new countries and/or currencies in a quick and efficient manner, lowering processing costs and eliminating the complexities in international non-urgent payments.

• IPF Charter


• Download an Overview of IPF


• Learn about the Benefits of Membership

Axis of Evil: ID Theft, Credit Card Fraud and Deception

Deception, Identity Theft and Credit Card Fraud - Battling the Axis of Evil

Download this press release as an Adobe PDF document.

Education is the key to protecting yourself against employee deception, identity theft and phishing attacks. All of these attack vectors are widely used by malicious social engineers. Brooklyn, PA (PRWEB) September, 2009 - Social Engineering is defined as the manipulation and deceiving of people into giving up valuable information. Education is the key to protecting yourself against employee deception, identity theft and phishing attacks. Social-Engineer.org (www.social-engineer.org) is a living, breathing entity that will keep on growing.... As security technologies advance, malicious hackers are turning to social engineering as it often provides the path of least resistance to their victims. Malicious social engineers will employ phishing, telephone attacks, as well as dumpster diving and physical security attacks to infiltrate their targets. A recent report by Symantec indicates a 52% increase in phishing attacks in the month of July 2009 alone. As a countermeasure, a community of experts have come together to build the webs first solid framework for social engineering. These experts come from industries such as deception detection, neuro-linguistic programming, psychology, government officials, penetration testing and professional social engineers. A lack of awareness is the main reason social engineering attacks are so successful. Social-engineer.org aims to create a cornerstone of the Internet for people to learn about social engineering and how to identify, avoid and protect themselves from such attacks. In today's economy, protection from social engineering attacks is of vital importance. According to Gartner, in 2007, $3.2 billion dollars were lost in phishing attacks alone. The social-engineer.org website hosts a multitude of educational materials including tools, scripts, videos and podcasts to help keep the community and those interested informed. The monthly featured podcasts will feature different aspects of social engineering, ranging from interrogation tactics, micro expressions, deception detection, penetration testing, pretexting and more. Social Engineer.org has joined forces with sponsors like John E. Reid and Company, Humintell, Offensive Security and many more to provide the most up-to-date and cutting edge information on all aspects of social engineering. Chris Nickerson, famous for his social engineering endeavors as well as his role on the TV Show Tiger Team, said, "Social-Engineer.org (www.social-engineer.org) is a living, breathing entity that will keep on growing...." About social-engineer.org social-engineer.org is a online security community that provides an educational framework for those who can use social engineering in their life, work or hobbies. It is headed up by Chris Hadnagy, Jim O'Gorman and Mati Aharoni but backed up by a strong community of professionals who have devoted countless hours and talent to make this happen. Visit the social engineering website at social-engineer.org and get protected today. ### Trackback URL: http://www.prweb.com/pingpr.php/WmV0YS1aZXRhLUluc2UtUHJvZi1Ib3JyLUNvdXAtWmVybw==

See the original story at: http://www.prweb.com/releases/social/engineering/prweb2881194.htm

Five Million More Online Shoppers by 2013

eCommerce Set to Grow

eCommerce Set to Grow

eCommerce Set to Grow

Wednesday, 17 Sep 2009 - via Direct News

The number of people buying products online will grow by more than five million between 2009 and 2013, according to digital intelligence group eMarketer.



Perhaps highlighting the importance of being optimized online, the firm expects that the number of online buyers in 2013 will total 31.8 million.



Developing strong e-marketing strategies and working on search engine optimization (SEO) could benefit companies which want to tap into this growing internet-based consumer market.



Meanwhile, eMarketer states that some 72.5 per cent of UK internet users will purchase at least one item via the web in 2009.



Karin von Abrams, senior analyst at the digital intelligence group and author of the report UK E-Commerce: Fighting the Downturn, claims: "The growing ranks of online buyers are prompting many UK [e-retailers] to raise their game ... despite pressure on budgets."



Search engines remain the best source of traffic for ecommerce websites, according to Screen Pages, which indicated that 63 per cent of traffic came through this route between January and June 2009.