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.
Tag: payment security
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.
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.
Consumers Happier, While Symantec Resigned to Security Breaches
An interesting array of tea leaves to read and report on this week. The first “leaf batch” comes from the folks at Nielsen. Yes, “Nielsen” of TV rating fame, but they report on all kinds of consumer trends and “ratings.” Recently they issued a report stating that consumer confidence ‘round the world had climbed to pre-recession levels in the year’s first quarter. That confidence had “ended on a flat note in 2013,” their article said, “but signs of a brighter sentiment were right around the corner. With an index score of 96 in the first quarter—the highest level since first-quarter 2007, that optimism was validated.
After The Breachin’: Chip-and-Pin Comes to Target
As was pointed out about the recent Heartbleed security hole that was so pervasive, it presented a chance — bad as it was — for a lot of companies to reinvent and update their security protocols, for consumers to opt in for “double login” options on various accounts (a password and a PIN, say), and for the general level of security, web-wide, to be enhanced.
POS Attacks May Be Declining (But…); Consumers Turning to Prepaid?
Certainly good news would be welcome on the internet and data security fronts these days. Technology website CRN may have some, in a story whose headline proclaims that “despite Prominent Retail Breaches, POS System Attacks Decline.”
“Heartbleed” Follow-ups: Web slowdown coming? Plus: Your Hand as a Credit Card
It’s no secret that news on the internet commerce / security / hack & bug front is “breaking” more fast and furiously than we’d like it to. But we’re determined to keep you updated so the surprises you have to plan for can be… a wee bit less surprising.
