Monthly Archives: May 2016

MasterCard’s new ecommerce fraud tool allows merchants to set transaction risk tolerances

MasterCard announced a new platform to help small to medium sized online businesses combat fraud. The platform is called Simplify Controls and it provides the ability for merchants to set their own risk tolerances including transaction amount limit, geo-location of the buyer, and multiple sales.  It also incorporates Kount's fraud monitoring engine which analyzes hundreds of [...]

By |2017-11-18T15:32:40-05:00May 25th, 2016|Kount, MasterCard|Comments Off on MasterCard’s new ecommerce fraud tool allows merchants to set transaction risk tolerances

Coming soon to a Pizza Hut near you: payment by robot

MasterCard announced a pilot with Pizza Hut and SoftBank Robotics to deploy humanoid-type robots to take orders and process payments at some Pizza Hut locations in Asia. The robots have a low price point of about $1600 and can react to emotion cues from humans. I wonder if it will be eligible for minimum wage? [...]

By |2017-11-18T15:32:40-05:00May 24th, 2016|MasterCard, Robots|Comments Off on Coming soon to a Pizza Hut near you: payment by robot

Update from the Card Not Present Expo: Engaging in cross-border ecommerce

I am currently in Orlando at the Card Not Present Expo to moderate a session on cross-border ecommerce.  Hundreds of people are here from around the world  to talk about what's next in payments. We had a great discussion this session with ecommerce industry leaders.  Here's a summary from the CardNotPresent.com site.   Sign up to [...]

By |2017-11-18T15:32:40-05:00May 24th, 2016|ecommerce|Comments Off on Update from the Card Not Present Expo: Engaging in cross-border ecommerce

Digital wallets enable developing world microeconomies to leap into the 21st century

This article from Huffington Post tells a fascinating story about farmers in small Ugandan villages embracing digit wallets as a replacement for cash boxes and paper records to manage their community savings and lending groups. Benefits go beyond safety and efficiency... there is also greater transparency and access to bankers and other institutions who can provide access to other resources. [...]

By |2017-11-18T15:32:40-05:00May 18th, 2016|digital wallets|Comments Off on Digital wallets enable developing world microeconomies to leap into the 21st century

Karma?: Hacker forum hacked

Nulled, a web community used by hackers to discuss their activities and market stolen data, has been hacked itself.   The website indicates it is "temporarily down for unscheduled maintenance". Apparently the hacked information includes data on more than 400,000 users, purchase records of stolen information, and thousands of posts providing details about potentially illegal [...]

By |2017-11-18T15:32:40-05:00May 17th, 2016|data breach, data security|Comments Off on Karma?: Hacker forum hacked

Anatomy of a data breach: how common productivity tools exposed sensitive government data

The popular productivity tool Slack allows teams to collaborate, communicate and share information.  According to Slack's website, "everyone has a transparent view of all that's going on".  But when Slack is integrated with file management tools like Google Drive, sensitive data can be exposed. That's exactly what happened in a recent incident within the U.S. General Services Administration [...]

By |2017-11-18T15:32:40-05:00May 16th, 2016|data breach, data security, Google|Comments Off on Anatomy of a data breach: how common productivity tools exposed sensitive government data

Walmart sues Visa (again), wants to require use of PINs for debit transactions

Walmart has filed a lawsuit against Visa related to Visa's policy requiring merchants to allow cardholders to choose whether to enter a PIN for debit transactions, even if the customer uses a chip-enabled card. The problem?  Signature-based debit transactions are processed on Visa's debit network, often at a higher fee to the merchant than other network routing [...]

By |2017-11-18T15:32:40-05:00May 12th, 2016|debit cards, EMV, Visa, Walmart|Comments Off on Walmart sues Visa (again), wants to require use of PINs for debit transactions

Groupon is shedding its restaurant POS platform

Groupon is selling Breadcrumb, a restaurant point-of-sale platform it acquired in 2012, to Upserve (formerly known as Swipely).  The two companies were already engaged in a strategic partnership.  There had been speculation for over a year that Groupon was looking to sell the business, including rumors of discussions between Groupon and Square. Upserve offers a [...]

By |2017-11-18T15:32:40-05:00May 11th, 2016|Groupon, Upserve|Comments Off on Groupon is shedding its restaurant POS platform

Apple Pay adds Mastercard and Visa functionality in Canada

Apple Pay is rolling out support for Visa, Mastercard and Interac accounts issued by seven Canadian banks, including giants BMO and the Royal Bank of Canada (both of whom already offered their own digital payment apps).  Since the launch of Apple Pay in Canada late last year, only American Express cards had been supported.  The service is available to [...]

By |2017-11-18T15:32:41-05:00May 10th, 2016|Apple, Canada, digital wallets|Comments Off on Apple Pay adds Mastercard and Visa functionality in Canada

Are Americans too dumb for Credit Card PINs?

All over the United States these days, consumers are getting used to new smart chip credit cards. At one grocery store, you swipe your card like you always have before, and the cashier says, “No, you have to dip it.” A few days later, you walk into another grocery store, spot the chip reader, and [...]

By |2017-11-18T15:32:41-05:00May 8th, 2016|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Are Americans too dumb for Credit Card PINs?
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