Private: Blog

Could traditional payments be disintermediated in peer-to-peer marketplaces?

In a thought-provoking article on Bitcoin.com, Allen Scott makes the case that peer-to-peer direct service models (like Uber) are ripe for peer-to-peer payments (like bitcoin, and presumably other P2P payment platforms) to disintermediate traditional payment methods or "a corporation in the middle".   The article envisions true peer-to-peer direct service networks where service providers directly [...]

By |2016-10-12T09:06:22-05:00October 12th, 2016|Bitcoin, P2P Networks|Comments Off on Could traditional payments be disintermediated in peer-to-peer marketplaces?

PayPal to enable China UnionPay acceptance in Europe

PayPal announced that it will enable China UnionPay credit and debit card acceptance by European merchants, creating opportunities for European merchants to engage in cross-border ecommerce with cardholders of China's largest card network.  Acceptance will be enabled though an enhancement to PayPal subsidiary Braintree's mobile commerce platform. The cross-border ecommerce market for Chinese consumers is projected at [...]

By |2017-11-18T15:32:37-05:00September 21st, 2016|Uncategorized|Comments Off on PayPal to enable China UnionPay acceptance in Europe

Major data breach hits Oracle’s MICROS point of sale platform

Oracle has suffered a major data breach affecting its MICROS POS payments systems.  The hack involved malicious code found on MICROS customer service systems.  The malware allowed hackers to access customer login information.   Early indications are that the attack originated in Russia. Oracle believes that individual transaction data was not compromised, but it is [...]

By |2017-11-18T15:32:37-05:00August 10th, 2016|data breach, data security, MICROS, Oracle|Comments Off on Major data breach hits Oracle’s MICROS point of sale platform

Mastercard acquiring UK-based VocaLink, expanding direct payments capabilities

Fast on the heels of Visa's enhanced partnership with PayPal, Mastercard announced its acquisition of UK-based VocaLink, a real-time payments platform.  The move expands Mastercard's ecosystem beyond traditional card-based payments into market space occupied by the likes of PayPal and its Venmo direct payments platform. Mastercard points out that ACH-based transfers represent 50% of payments [...]

By |2017-11-18T15:32:37-05:00August 10th, 2016|MasterCard, PayPal, Vocalink|Comments Off on Mastercard acquiring UK-based VocaLink, expanding direct payments capabilities

Possible massive Yahoo data breach includes userids, passwords and birthdates

Yahoo is investigating the claims of a hacker that 200 million+ Yahoo account credentials and personally identifiable information have been backed and are for sale on the dark web.  The hacker, who claims to also be associated with recent LinkedIn and MySpace data breaches, stated that the data is "most likely" from 2012. The hacker, [...]

By |2017-11-18T15:32:37-05:00August 3rd, 2016|data breach, data security, Yahoo|Comments Off on Possible massive Yahoo data breach includes userids, passwords and birthdates

Small inexpensive device can hack mag card readers

Computerworld published an article describing a tiny device that can wirelessly hack point of sale and other magnetic-stripe based systems by sending malicious keyboard commands using a design vulnerability in those systems.  Apparently a hotel room lock could be hacked within 18-30 minutes using the device. The device was inspired by "MagSpoof" which is a device that can [...]

By |2017-11-18T15:32:37-05:00August 3rd, 2016|data security, EMV|Comments Off on Small inexpensive device can hack mag card readers

Visa releases updated EMV stats showing continued rapid adoption in U.S.

Visa announced a number of interesting statistics regarding the progress of EMV adoption in the U.S.: Nearly 327 million Visa chip cards have been issued, roughly 58% of them credit cards and the remainder debit/stored-value.   The U.S. has quickly become the largest chip card market globally, followed by Brazil at 141 million and the UK [...]

By |2017-11-18T15:32:38-05:00July 27th, 2016|EMV, Fraud, Visa|Comments Off on Visa releases updated EMV stats showing continued rapid adoption in U.S.

PayPal and Visa kiss and make up… sort of

PayPal and Visa announced several new initiatives as part of a partnership deal aimed at thawing their historically frosty relationship. PayPal will de-emphasize its focus on steering customers to bank transfers instead of Visa cards to fund transactions, integrate Visa's mobile payments platform, provide more transaction data to card issuers, and allow Visa's debit cardholders [...]

By |2017-11-18T15:32:38-05:00July 22nd, 2016|digital wallets, ecommerce, PayPal, Visa|Comments Off on PayPal and Visa kiss and make up… sort of

Apple Pay launches in France

On the heels of its recent expansion to Canada and Switzerland,  and the June announcement that Apple Pay will support ecommerce payments, comes the debut of Apple Pay in France.   The product is now available in the U.S., Canada, China, Singapore, Switzerland, Singapore and France, and Apple has signaled that Hong Kong could be next. Initially, Mastercard and [...]

By |2017-11-18T15:32:38-05:00July 19th, 2016|Apple|Comments Off on Apple Pay launches in France

Microsoft wins major international data privacy case

In a "win" for Microsoft, Amazon, Apple and other data privacy rights advocates, a U.S. Appeals court in New York issued a ruling preventing law enforcement officials from requiring Microsoft to provide access to data residing on non-U.S. servers.   The case stemmed from a demand by the Justice Department to access emails stored on a Microsoft server [...]

By |2017-11-18T15:32:38-05:00July 18th, 2016|Microsoft, privacy|Comments Off on Microsoft wins major international data privacy case
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