Credit Cards' Unintended Security Hole - CBS News

Credit Cards' Unintended Security Hole
Retail Realities: Why Zero Liability Programs Are a Wonderfully Early Holiday Gift to Cyber Thieves Everywhere

Editor's Note:  First of all, I call it "Zero Lie Ability." because the truth is that signature debit vs. pin debit brings "nothing to the table, yet Visa pushes it over the more secure 2FA PIN debit system.  Lie Ability also has the dual meaning that the banks have "no clue" (zero) on how Visa fooled them into agreeing to partake in this so-called "zero liability" program...the one that pushes the "LIE" in order to provide Visa with the "ABILITY" to make more profits.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to PIN down the fact that Visa's "Signature" product, given the two choices (PIN or SIG) is the less secure of the two. 

I'll expand further on Tuesday.  For now, here's Evan Schuman's rant...which by the way...contains zero lies!

(CBS) This column was written by Evan Schuman, the editor of StorefrontBacktalk.com, a site that tracks retail technology, e-Commerce and security issues. He can be reached by e-mail and on Twitter.

In one of the most delicious ironies in retail today, the single most significant element that makes it easier for cyber thieves to steal consumer credit and debit card information from retailers is something the credit card companies themselves cooked up.

To be fair, this unintended consequence is a domino effect, where the innocuous-seeming program has set off a series of chain reactions that, today, makes credit and debit card breaches a lot more likely and more lucrative for the thieves. The program is called zero liability and it was initiated by some of the major credit card players many years ago to try and make consumers more comfortable making purchases online. The premise is that any fraudulent purchases will not have to be paid for by the consumer. Some banks have spoken of no liability beyond $50, but in operation, almost all banks cover all of the charges.

The program worked wonderfully and consumers quickly did become comfortable making E-Commerce purchases. But as identity theft and straight-out stealing from credit cards became much more common, large retailers became popular targets. The onus was on the retailers-not the banks-to pay millions of dollars to install and manage sophisticated security programs. But these costs were almost impossible to justify. After all, no chain was going to advertise: "We just installed state-of-the-art firewalls and encryption systems. Come shop with us." And the risk of being breached seemed too remote to make a compelling argument to a board of directors.

Then came the retail world's wakeup moment.  (Continue Reading...but first...an Editor's Note)

Editor's Note:  When will the e-tail world "wakeup?"  AFTER or BEFORE the next big breach?  Look for Tuesday's PIN Payments News Blog for an analysis of why an e-Breach is inevitable...unless online shoppers swipe instead of type.  I've long said, that if cardholders data is going to be swiped, should it not be the cardholder doing the SwipePIN? 

BTW: It's ironic that this story was run on CBS, because there's a lot of BS that I C. involving e-payment security on the web.  (includinig BSMS)  When it comes to asking who "nose" this more than anyone, the engineering team at HomeATM has been conscious of this fact for years.  So what is Visa doing?  Jiminy Cricket!  Where's the conscience? 

'A penny times billions adds up'

Trade group (NACS) representing convenience stores and grocers upset with recent credit card fee increase
BY BILL FREEHLING
Date published: 5/29/2009

An association of retailers is upset about a recent fee increase charged to merchants each time a customer uses a credit card to pay.

The National Association of Convenience Stores calls last month's usage-fee increases by Visa and MasterCard "beyond outrageous." The fees, which took effect April 17, increase a merchant's per-charge transaction cost by more than a penny. Merchants are now charged about 2 cents per transaction on usage fees, which are in addition to other costs.

"A penny may not seem like much, but a penny times billions adds up quick," said NACS spokesman Jeff Lenard. "And when business costs go up, they get passed along to consumers, so we are all the losers."

MasterCard spokesman Chris Monteiro declined to comment on the pricing adjustments but noted that "every business establishes a price for the goods and services it provides, and the electronic payments industry is no exception.

Continue Reading

In related news, the NACS also ran an editorial on their website complaining that Interchange Fees need to be regulated or the benefits to the recent Credit Card Bill of Right will be badly affected:

Editorial: Merchants Need Interchange Reform 

Unless interchange fees are regulated, the benefits to consumers of recent credit card reform will be sharply reduced

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – An editorial in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune
welcomed the passage of the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights as one
protecting cardholders, although the bill failed to address interchange
fees.

 The editorial urged Congress or courts to act and
eliminate interchange fees, costs that total $45 billion annually. The
authors, Craig Wildfang and Mark Williams, recommended the following:

• Congress should regulate interchange fees, those charged to
  merchants by card-issuing banks. Collectively, the fees total $45
  billion annually and are rising.
• U.S. interchange fees are among the world’s highest and are
  not supported by commensurately higher costs to banks or card networks.
  In fact, the costs of running computer hardware and software — “the
  principal costs of running a payment card network” — have been
  decreasing.
• Interchange fees are essentially a privately enacted sales
  tax by the country’s largest banks (creators of Visa and MasterCard),
  “except that the revenue goes to the country’s largest banks, not to
  the government.” No controls have been in place to regulate these
  “fixing of prices to merchants” by the banks. Indeed, “the five largest
  card-issuing banks account for 80 percent of all cards.”
• Other countries have contested interchange fees, including
  Australia and the European Union. In those cases, authorities lowered
  or eliminated the fees.
• Canada’s Interac debit network, as well as other foreign debit card networks, voluntarily do not charge interchange fees.

Wildfang and Williams summarized that eliminating the $45
billion interchange fee would provide an immediate stimulus to the
economy. And noting that Citibank and Bank of America have accepted
hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer funds to endure the current
financial crisis, a reciprocal gesture is especially merited. Without
doing so, the benefits of the Cardholders’ Bill of Rights are sharply
reduced. And if Congress fails to act, merchants will turn to the
courts to seek relief.

In an article written by Kevin M. Nixon, he muses as towhether Melissa Hathway is the next Cybercrime Czar...

Is She America’s New Cybersecurity Tsarina?

Securing Our Digital Future

Melissa Hathaway, Cybersecurity Chief at the National Security Council, discusses securing our nation’s digital future:

Published:  FRI, MAY 29, 10:00 AM EST — The White House Blog

The globally-interconnected digitalinformation and communications infrastructure known as cyberspaceunderpins almost every facet of modern society and provides criticalsupport for the U.S. economy, civil infrastructure, public safety andnational security.

The United States is one of theglobal leaders on embedding technology into our daily lives and thistechnology adoption has transformed the global economy and connectedpeople in ways never imagined. 

My boys are 8 and 9 and use theInternet daily to do homework, blog with their friends and teacher, andemail their mom; it is second nature to them.

My mom and dad can read thenewspapers about their daughter on-line and can reach me anywhere inthe world from their cell phone to mine.  And people all over the worldcan post and watch videos and read our blogs within minutes ofcompletion.  I can’t imagine my world without this connectivity and Iwould bet that you cannot either.   Now consider that the same networksthat provide this connectively also increasingly help control ourcritical infrastructure.

These networks deliver power andwater to our households and businesses, they enable us to access ourbank accounts from almost any city in the world, and they aretransforming the way our doctors provide healthcare.  For all of thesereasons, we need a safe Internet with a strong network infrastructureand we as a nation need to take prompt action to protect cyberspace forwhat we use it for today and will need in the future.

Protecting cyberspace requiresstrong vision and leadership and will require changes in policy,technology, education, and perhaps law.  The 60-day cyberspace policy review summarizesour conclusions and outlines the beginning of a way forward in buildinga reliable, resilient, trustworthy digital infrastructure for thefuture.

There are opportunities foreveryone–individuals, academia, industry, and governments–to contributetoward this vision.  During the review we engaged in more than 40meetings and received and read more than 100 papersthat informed our recommendations.   As you will see in our reviewthere is a lot of work for us to do together and an ambitious actionplan to accomplish our goals.

It must begin with a national dialogue on cybersecurity and we should start with our family, friends, and colleagues.

We are late in addressing thiscritical national need and our response must be focused, aggressive,and well-resourced.  We have garnered great momentum in the last fewmonths, and the vision developed in our review is based on theimportant input we received from industry, academia, the civilliberties and privacy communities, others in the Executive Branch,State governments, Congress, and our international partners.  We nowhave a strong and common view of what is needed to achieve change.

Ensuring that cyberspace issufficiently resilient and trustworthy to support U.S. goals ofeconomic growth, civil liberties and privacy protections, nationalsecurity, and the continued advancement of democratic institutionsrequires making cybersecurity a national priority.

[ Johannesburg, 29 May 2009 ] - In today's trying economic climate, it is becoming clear that every organization in every industry sector, be it financial, retail or telecommunications, is a target for cyber criminals. If they conduct banking online or host customer and supplier information, businesses must ensure they have proper security measures in place not to fall victim to these crimes.

This is according to Costin Raiu, Chief Security Expert at Kaspersky Lab, EEMEA, addressing delegates at ITWeb's 4th Annual IT Security Summit 2009 in South Africa this week.

The conference provided information security professionals and IT managers with the most up-to-date information, tools, trends, legislation and strategies to address information security issues.

“Cybercrime accounts for billions of dollars in terms of losses annually and the criminals are becoming more professional in developing technologies designed to counteract traditional anti-virus solutions every day. It is not so much an issue of computer malware, but the countless vulnerabilities in operating systems as well as the installed software applications that make it very hard to run secure computer systems,” he says.

Raiu says contributing factors that lead to the flourishing of premeditated online crime is the evolution of malicious code from viruses to Trojan horse attacks, designed to steal personal information for financial gain.

“Online payment systems and online banking systems often make use of simplistic authentication technologies, and hackers use keystroke loggers, password-stealing Trojans and social engineering to gain access to accounts which are later emptied of funds.

“Even systems that use complicated multi-factor authentication techniques are at risk with the introduction of specialised Trojan horses, which are able to intercept transfers on-the-fly and replace the destination account with the attacker's account or highjack an online banking session,” he says.

“At the same time, banking institutions that offer financial services online must use a blended approach to security, using two-factor authentication methods that rely on external devices to ensure that user accounts are not compromised,” he says.

In his closing comments, Raiu said businesses have to begin to realize that the IT security threat is not going to go away. The protection against such risks, he says, must be international priority, involving various industry experts and associations to guard against these financial risks.

How to hack an ATM

Both Sides of the Mouth’ Security Analysis

May 27, 2009 by ADMIN · Comment

By John B. Frank, Marketing Strategist with HomeATM ePayment Solutions

It was nice that Javelin Strategy and Research took the time to write about HomeATM in their analysis of Finovate Startup09, but I’m a little confused about something they say in their report.

Maybe a reader might be able to clarify what they mean, because right now I’ve got  a kindova BSMS (Both Sides of the Mouth Syndrome) taste in my - for lack of a better word - mouth.

Why do I say BSMS?

Well, in the first portion of Javelin’s analysis of HomeATM, they say that our Safe-T-PIN device provides (the more secure) card present (vs. the less secure card not present) credit card transaction, and the even more secure PIN Debit transaction.

Here’s their quote:

Launched in April 2009, P2P Safe-T-PIN offers home-based “card present” credit card and PIN debit transactions online using a PCI-certified device attached to a personal computer through a USB port.

Users also could make online purchases by swiping their credit card or debit card and PIN at checkout. The device allows for secure real-time money movement with an option for delayed transactions.

Then, after stating that, the next thing they say is:

There is greater potential for HomeATM as a frequent high-value P2P solution such as a Western Union money transfer than for enabling e-commerce. Many consumers may be hesitant to swipe their ATM cards on hardware attached to their computer because of security concerns.

Therein lies my confusion.

First they state that our PCI certified device allows for “Card Present” and “Online PIN Debit” transactions, along with the statement that our device ALLOWS SECURE REAL TIME MONEY MOVEMENT, and then in their next breath they say that many consumers may be hesitant to use that very same PCI 2.0 Certified PIN Entry Device because of security concerns?

Did they possibly mean to imply that many consumers may be hesitant to swipe their ATM cards on hardware attached to their computer because they don’t want “improved” security?

Someone help me out here!  I’m not being sarcastic.  I’m being serious. Okay, I admit…I’m being totally sarcastic. But there’s good reason; in fact 117 good reasons. You may have noticed when you first visited the HomeATM site, there was a popup that appeared asking if you would please partake in our survey.

Well, I started the survey yesterday and already have 117 responses, and it doesn’t appear to me that very many consumers may be hesitant to swipe their ATM (or debit or credit) cards on hardware attached to their computer.  In fact, 117 said they would prefer to Swipe their Card and 117 said they would prefer NOT to Type in a Username/Password.

Click below to enlarge and read two questions pertaining to whether individuals would prefer to Type or Swipe their Card information at a merchant website or Online bank:

The analysis did go on to say that two of the “differentiators” enjoyed by HomeATM is that we provide “end to end encryption” and our device is PCI certified, so I’m still left confused by what they meant about many consumers being hesitant because of security concerns… chime in if you know!

HomeATM Differentiators:

• A HomeATM Mobile device will be available for mobile phones with Web access, allowing transactions on the go
• PCI-certified device
• Hardware-based end-to-end encryption
• 100% acceptance with all bank cards

Author’s Note:  Plus our PCI 2.0 Certified PED also “encrypts” the Track 2 data and utilizes DUKPT key management as an additional layer of security.

HomeATM’s Engineering Team Designed and Manufactures the World’s FIRST and ONLY PCI 2.0 PIN Entry Device Specifically Designed for eCommerce. Our device provides “Card Present” rates on credit cards and “True PIN Debit” Interchange on debit cards as well as secure 2FA authentication for online banking sites and live, “real-time” money transfer from P2P, B2B, B2P, P2B and mobile.

To learn more about our product’s and services click here or email us at: info@homeatm.net

Stay Informed With RSS Feeds or Email Alerts Here: 

Filed under: D&O Liability, FEATURE ARTICLE, Financial, HomeATM, Insider Threat, PCI, Sarbanes-Oxley, Uncategorized, compliance, cyber-crime, hackers, identity-theft, privacy 

Tags: 2009, 3DES, access, affordable, Anthony M. Freed, Avivah Litan, Canada, computer, confidential, consumer product liability, control, cyber security, cyber-crime, cybersecurity, D and O liability, Data, due diligence, DUKPT, E2EE, Economy, electronic database, ened to end encrryption, Finance, Financial, Financial Identity, Financial InfoSec, First Ever Web PCI 2.0 PED Certification, fortune 100, Gartner, governance, hackers, HATM, HomeATM ePayment Solutions, ID, identity thief, Infoduciary, Information, Information Fiduciary, Information-Security-Resources.com, InfoSec, ISR, John B. Frank, Ken Mages, Kevin M. Nixon, Laura Wilson, law, legal, liability, markets, merchants, military grade encryption, misuse, money transfer, News, online fraud, outsourcing, P2P, paperless, Payment Card Industry, payment card terminal, PCI, plug and play, POS, press release, privacy rights, real time, regulations, regulatory, Report, risk, SafeTPIN, Security, System, systems, theft, third party, vendors

Consumers prefer debit cards in slowdown

Consumers prefer debit cards in slowdown
BS Reporter / Mumbai May 29, 2009, 0:28 IST

The number of debit card transactions increased by 48 per cent in financial year 2009, compared to an increase of 12.7 per cent for credit cards in the year. Similarly, debit card volumes grew by 44.6 per cent, whereas credit cards saw a volume growth of 13.7 per cent for the same period, says the Reserve Bank of India’s data.

Sector experts attribute this surge in debit card usage to the ongoing economic slowdown and the cautious attitude towards spending money. Add to this the diminished focus of banks in issuing credit cards.

The pattern is starker in a quarter-on-quarter analysis by Venture Infotek, a transaction management company. Debit card transactions showed an increase of 88.6 per cent, against a rise of 34.5 per cent for credit cards for the March. In value terms, daily transactions through debit cards increased by 73.4 per cent vis-à-vis an increase of 24.8 per cent in credit card transactions.

“This shows the Indian consumer is behaving cautiously. Debit cards bring in the discipline of spending only the money you own. Besides, credit is scarce in a recession and credit card companies are vary of extending credit loosely,” said Piyush Khaitan, Managing Director, Venture Infotek.

The total value and volume of point of sale transactions through credit cards in March has declined by 11.9 per cent and 3.9 per cent, respectively, over April 2008, says the RBI data.

It also shows the number of credit cards in circulation has declined from 28.3 million cards in April 2008 to 24.6 million cards in March 2009. Whereas debit cards have registered an increase of 30.9 per cent, to touch 137.4 million in March 2009.

Debit Card Growth

Mintel, March 2009, Pages: 56

Description

Since the last survey that we conducted of the unbanked and underbanked markets, two significant developments have taken place: the financial crisis and the election of President Barack Obama. These two events offer both good news and bad news for those looking to market to the underbanked. On the one hand, those distrustful of the banking system are now even more distrustful. On the other hand, as the majority of unbanked and underbanked consumers are immigrants, this poses a possible opportunity.

Due to problems in the banking industry, banking institutions will need to look towards new revenue streams. Though banks are more risk-averse, there is evidence that the underbanked are not necessarily high risk and are actually careful consumers. Given their population growth rates, it is a huge economic opportunity.

This report includes key information about the growing numbers of unbanked and underbanked consumers:

-What are the demographics of the unbanked and underbanked?
-What are the factors that lead to distrust and/or underuse of banks?
-Which segment(s) has the greatest growth rate?
-What are methods to market to the unbanked and underbanked?

Table of Contents

A New Report From Aite Group US Bank ATMs" Rebuilding the Foundation In order to improve the overall ATM customer experience, banks must first make sure their underlying ATM technology is up-to-date.

Boston, MA, May 28, 2009 – A new report from Aite Group, LLC examines how the ATM channel is expected to evolve through 2010. Based on interviews with bank ATM channel executives at 23 of the top 80 U.S. banks by number of checking accounts, the report prescribes recommendations for banks and vendors participating in the U.S. ATM market.

Today, as banks embrace the potential to add additional features and functionalities to ATMs, they realize that they must first update their underlying technology. In five years, 91% of ATM executives indicate it will be important or extremely important to their bank's strategy to create a differentiated ATM experience through customer personalization. If the foundation is not yet built, banks will not be able to provide the level of personalization their peers are currently starting to implement. "Many banks are currently using outdated ATM technology, and see themselves as lagging behind the competition when it comes to service at the ATM channel" says Kate Monahan, analyst with Aite Group and author of this report. "Until updates are made, service will continue to suffer at the ATM channel and areas of opportunity for personalization at the ATM, such as marketing to customers on a one-to-one basis, will not be possible." This 39-page Impact Report contains 31 figures. Clients of Aite Group's Retail Banking service can download the report by clicking on the icon to the right.

Aite Group, US Bank ATMs, ATM channel

Western Union Offers Customer Option to Receive Funds via Online Banking at www.garanti.com

Service Launched with New Agent, Turkey’s Garanti Bank

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. & ISTANBUL--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU - News), a worldwide leader in money transfer services, announced today the launch of a service that allows online banking customers in Turkey to receive money transfers directly into their bank accounts. The service is offered through a new Agent, Garanti Bank, Turkey’s second largest private bank. Online banking customers can also send money from the website at any time to more than 334,000 Western Union® Agent locations in over 200 countries and territories.

The model may be applied further in Turkey and in other markets around the world.

“Western Union continues to drive industry innovation to meet a growing demand for convenient, reliable online services,” said Hikmet Ersek, Executive Vice President and Managing Director for Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific. “This is the first time a Western Union customer in Turkey will be able to choose between the traditional method of receiving cash at an Agent location and having funds sent directly into his bank account, without having to go to a physical location or talking to a call center.”

Ali Fuat Erbil, Executive Vice President of Garanti Bank, said: “Garanti Bank is known for its dynamic business approach and commitment to technological innovation. We have achieved many firsts in Turkey and are delighted to be part of using the Internet to bring a new level of convenience and efficiency to our customers.”

The service is aimed at busy people who do not have time to visit an Agent location and is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Customers can send and receive funds using their online Garanti Bank accounts by following a few simple steps. The Western Union Money Transfer® service is available at more than 4,000 Agent locations in Turkey through Ziraat Bank, Turkish Post, Finansbank, ING Bank, Denizbank, Fortis, Türkiye Finans and TBank.

About Western Union

The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU - News) is a leader in global money transfer services. Together with its Orlandi Valuta and Vigo branded money transfer services, Western Union provides consumers with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, as well as send payments and purchase money orders. It operates through a network of more than 379,000 Agent locations in over 200 countries and territories. Famous for its pioneering telegraph services, the original Western Union dates back to 1851. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.

About Garanti Bank

Established in 1946, Garanti Bank is Turkey's second largest private bank with assets reaching in excess of $63 billion as a result of its customer centric approach and innovative culture. As a universal bank with leading presence in all business lines, Garanti serves to over 8 million customers in corporate, commercial, SME, and consumer segments offering fully integrated financial services through its 9 financial subsidiaries that include payment systems, pension, leasing, factoring, brokerage and asset management. Committed to its customers, Garanti with over 16,000 employees operates an expanding distribution network comprising more than 730 branches including five foreign branches and four international representative offices, more than 2,600 ATMs, an award-winning call center and an Internet and mobile bank utilizing its state-of-the-art technology. Garanti supports its extensive branch network with centralized operations, exceptional data warehousing and management reporting systems, and the efficient use of alternative delivery channels. Garanti’s wide product variety combined with custom-tailored solutions is a key competitive advantage in its success as Turkey's largest lender providing more than $44 billion in cash and non-cash loans. For more information, please visit www.garantibank.com.

Judge Rules LifeLock’s Fraud Alert Service Illegal

Stolen credit card data published in blog | The Australian

Blair Speedy | May 29, 2009
Article from: The Australian

VICTORIAN police are investigating a massive identity fraud involving the personal details of thousands of Australians that have been available on an internet blog site for more than a month.

The data, discovered by The Australian, includes thousands of Visa, Mastercard and American Express numbers, including expiry dates, together with home addresses, phone numbers and email addresses.

The list was posted on a free blogging site, where it was copied by search engine Google as part of its routine cataloguing of internet sites on April 21.

Victoria Police Sergeant Dave Spencer said the list appeared to have been collected from a number of sources before being sold to criminals.

"Lists like this come up for sale on the internet, and this is basically the end product of skimming and hacking of ATMs and other point-of-sale systems," Sergeant Spencer said.

stolen credit card data, credit card data blog, identity theft, fraud, internet, point of sale

I've blogged about this subject plenty of times over the last year, and my concern is specifically targeted towards the inherent weaknesses in the username/password systems used with online banking. If a consumer is tricked/phished into providing their username/ password, then the phisher is successful.

The average phishing attack results in a loss of $350 to a bank.

According to research firm,Gartner, banks, online payment organizations and other financial institutions are bearing most of the financial cost of phishing attacks. (A survey of nearly 4,000 US consumers revealed a 40% increase in the number of phishing victims in 2008 over the year before to five million.)

The average loss was $350 per phishing attack, but consumers said they had recovered 56% of their losses from the financial institutions involved. (That's $196 to the banks and $154 to the consumers) "The findings underline the fact that the war against phishing is far from over," said Avivah Litan, analyst at Gartner. (Yes, the very same Avivah Litan who says "never" enter your PIN on the Internet unless it's hardware based)

HomeATM provides a very simple cure to this maliciousness. Use a PCI 2.0 certified SwipePIN device and require online banking users to swipe their bank issued card and enter their bank issued PIN. The data is encrypted and is NEVER in the clear. So, in the event a consumer is tricked into swiping and entering their PIN, as opposed to typing in their log-in credentials, the phisher has nothing.

And nothing is something banks should want phishers to have.

More Than 80% Of Phishing Attacks Use Hijacked, Legitimate Websites
New research from the Anti-Phishing Working Group shows how phishers are better covering their tracks -- and what to do when phishers compromise your Website

May 27, 2009 | 04:23 PM
By Kelly Jackson Higgins
DarkReading

It used to be that researchers could sometimes track a phishing exploit by the notorious cybercrime ring behind it, like the Rock Phish gang, but no more: New research from the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) has found that most phishers are setting up shop on legitimate Websites to be inconspicuous when they steal valuable information from victims.

In the second half of 2008, roughly 57,000 phishing attacks worldwide targeted a specific brand or organization, up from around 47,300 in the first half of 2008, according to a newly released report (PDF) from the APWG. The attacks were waged on 30,454 different domain names, only 5,591 of which were domains the phishers set up themselves. The rest were from legitimate Websites they had hijacked to carry out their exploits.

The average amount of time a phishing site was up: 52 hours, according to the report.

Continue Dark Reading

Jump in mobile payments users this year - Gartner

The number of people around the world making payments using their mobile phones is set to soar from 43.1 million in 2008 to 73.4 million this year, a 70% rise, according to analyst house Gartner.

By 2012, the company predicts the number of people making m-payments will hit 190 million - more than three per cent of total mobile users - as it becomes "mainstream."

However, security concerns, an inadequate 'ecosystem' and undefined areas in banking regulations remain challenges for the technology.

Continue Reading at Finextra

mobile payments, insecure, security concerns, banking, SafeTPIN, SwipePIN, iSwipe