Well, it’s time for the annual “Black Hat” conference in Las Vegas, which is actually a conference run by “white hats” to discuss security breaches in our wired world, and to share knowledge of any breaches or security lapses they’ve discovered before the real “black hats” do.
Category: AVP Solutions Merchant Info
Are Cards More Cost Effective For Merchants Than Cash?
A new study from financial analysts at the Aite Group says that handling both Debit and Credit cards is more cost effective for merchants and retailers than handling cash.
According to details in the Credit Union Times, the report, “Tender Truths: The Real Cost of POS Transactions in the U.S., found debit cards the least expensive method of payment for merchants, costing significantly less per transaction than cash or cards.It broke down the costs of different payment types across three broad retail sectors: specialty retailers, quick service restaurants and convenience stores.”
A Handy AVPS Guide to Point-of-Sale Security, Pt. II: Mitigation & Protection
Last week, we mentioned card issuer alerts calling for more vigilance on the part of merchants to “shore up” their Point-of-Sale systems, in an age of increased hacking, breaches, and network intrusion. This lack of security has resulted in some unfortunately spectacular “virtual break-ins,” like the Target breach and the ones that followed, resulting in the information for millions of customers being pilfered, compromised, and sold not only to the “highest bidder,” but to whoever meets the price of those vending the data.
A Handy AVPS Guide to Point-of-Sale Security. Pt. I: Remote Access
In our current climate of “hackery” and security breaches, the number of alerts and advisories going to out to companies like ours is on the increase. Many of these have valuable information that we feel should be passed along to our customers, so they can use these ideas, deploy them, to keep their own transactions — and their customers — as safe as possible.
Summer is for “fishing” — not “phishing!” Some protection tips from AVPS!
“Phishing” is exactly what sounds like — a “fishing” expedition by the bad guys, usually via “legitimate” seeming emails, or other means, to try and “snag” or “catch” as much sensitive information about you, and your customers, as they can.
4th of July Snapshot: Gas Prices, Economic Indicators Heat Up Like Roman Candles
As we approach the July 4th 2014, the economy news at summer’s midpoint celebration is increasingly rose-colored like one of those ground bloom flower fireworks.
On the one hand, as Bloomberg reports, “jobs growth adds more sunshine” to the U.S. Economy. Specifically, job growth, in payroll specialist ADP’s report ahead of the official Federal figures, was much higher than expected. ““The labor market appears to be firing on all cylinders and is finally self-sustaining,” the Bloomberg said, citing two two PNC Financial Services economists.
P.F. Chang’s Breach, and Krebs on “What Do Hackers Want?”
It’s good to keep an eye on the “Krebs on Security” website, where much of the recent all-too-spectacular news about data breaches gets broken, and later analyzed. This week, Brian Krebs is reporting on the latest retail breach, coming from the chain of P.F. Chang’s China Bistro restaurant (if you’ve eaten at one lately, doublecheck your plastic!)
Updates: California Senate Lets EMV Law Lapse; The State of Security
We wanted to update you on an item we ran last week, wherein California’s State Senate was on the verge of issuing its own mandates for a switch over to EMV standards in card transactions, setting April 1, 2016 as the date.
However, according to a report in Computerworld, “the full Senate missed the voting deadline of May 30, ending its chances of passage until a new legislative session begins.”
EMV Vote In California While MasterCard Announces “Zero Liability” for PINs
The push for those chip-carrying EMV cards, which would make it more difficult for fraudulent transactions to occur, continues apace. In California, the State Senate is advancing a bill that would make April 1, 2016 — no fooling! — the date by which both retailers and card issuers would need to support the chip-and-PIN standard.
