Schumer warns on no-swipe credit cards
526023
No-swipe credit cards that use radio waves to relay their data put consumers at increased risk of identity theft, Sen. Charles Schumer said Sunday.
334578
November 29, 2004 -- ALBANYâ State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer today will call for banning lobbyists&#39; gifts to lawmakers and an end to lobbying for government contracts, in a platform aimed at the heart of power politics in Albany.
219700
Politicians have finally found an issue they all can agree on: Telemarketers calling at dinnertime are a scourge that must be repulsed. Congress on Wednesday sent to President Bush two bills that would make permanent a program to protect consumers from unwanted phone calls from telemarketers. Its hallmark is the national "do not call" list.
581877
By Bill Hirschman, South Florida Sun-Sentinel  Dec. 12--Broward County's $23 million touch-screen voting system may be scrapped unless commissioners find a way to create a paper trail.
742563
The chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee will this year scrutinize the mortgage lending industry and draft new consumer protections for credit card holders, he said on Friday.
365929
(InfoWorld) - Using a credit card at a gas station could pose more of a risk for data theft than shopping online, as point-of-sale terminals have emerged as a weak link in the security chain, according to a Gartner analyst. When a card is swiped, point-of-sale (POS) terminals often collect and store the data held in the magnetic stripe on the back of a credit card, said Avivah Litan, a Gartner vice president and distinguished analyst. Retailers are often unaware that their POS applications collect so much information. In the hands of sophisticated hackers and counterfeiters, the data collected from the magnetic stripe is enough to create a replica card. "It's almost more dangerous to go to the gas station than it is online," Litan said at Gartner's Identity and Access Management Summit in London on Monday. "The data is just sitting there. No one even thought about what data is on a POS controller." Retailers' network configurations are partly to blame. Many are using the Internet to transmit data in place of dial-up networks, and many have incorporated wireless access points into their networks using WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy), Litan said, which is not considered a strong form of encryption. Hackers lurk in parking lots looking for weak networks to penetrate. Since the POS terminals are linked via IP, once a hacker has accessed a network they can try out neighboring IP addresses until they locate a store of data, Litan said. Data breaches that occur offline are common. Of 160 breaches investigated for one major credit card brand, 128 took place in the brick and mortar world where the card was physically present for the transaction, rather than being used online or over the telephone, according to Gartner. To strengthen security, card brands such as Visa and Mastercard are pressuring retailers to comply with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard, a code of best practices created by the card industry. The standard forbids the storing of magnetic stripe data on POS terminals, and Visa plans to start fining retailers in the coming months if they don't comply, according to Gartner. Implementing security is cheaper in the long run than having a data breach, which can be expensive and hurt a company's reputation. Gartner calculates that a data breach costs companies around $300 per exposed account because of investigations, fines and lawsuits. On the other hand, beefing up security costs around $16 per account for the first year, and that cost falls over time, according to Litan. The short-term forecast for POS security doesn't look great, however. Gartner predicts that by next year, most attacks against retailers will be directed at their POS terminals, and only 30 percent of POS software will be compliant with the prevailing security standards by 2009. "The thieves always find the path of least resistance," Litan said. Â
688496
Don't settle for an HDTV: Pay off a credit card.
99567
Sen. Charles Schumer yesterday criticized retail grinches who are stealing Christmas by blacklisting customers who return too many gifts.
547198
U.S. lawmakers wrote to regulators on Monday expressing concern that some banks are processing unsigned checks used by fraudsters seeking to drain money from the accounts of vulnerable people.
388877
Customers will have to wait to use its gift cards.
708171
That plastic card, the one with the lousy photo that's jammed into your wallet or purse, isn't just a license to drive. It's the green light to buy a drink, the ticket to federal benefits, the must-have document to get aboard airplanes. Now it's also the flash point for an argument about how best to balance America's security needs with worries that personal privacy could be swept away.
321947
(InfoWorld) - Citibank Singapore is offering a new way for credit-card holders to make payments -- using their fingerprints instead of credit cards. Citibank this month began rolling out biometric payment systems in Singapore that allow Citibank Clear Platinum credit card holders to pay using their fingerprints. "It's an investment for our future," said Anand Cavale, vice president and business director of credit payment products at Citibank Singapore, noting this is the first time the bank has used a biometric payment system anywhere in the world. Before putting the biometric system into operation, Citibank officials took a long hard look at whether the system was secure -- and came away satisfied that it was, Cavale said. "We see this as the next step, which will enhance our already good fraud prevention systems," he said. With an affluent, tech-savvy population of 4.5 million, Singapore is among the most competitive for credit-card issuers, with many Singaporeans carrying three or four cards in their wallets. To encourage card holders to spend, banks regularly team up with partners to offer special discounts -- say, 10 percent off dinner at a trendy restaurant -- if customers use a certain credit card. So much competition leaves banks looking for any edge they can find. For its part, Citibank hopes the biometric technology makes payment more convenient for its card holders, eliminating the need for them to always carry credit cards while still allowing them to buy things. But don't expect to see biometrics replace Citibank cards any time soon. "The technology will be used in conjunction with a credit card," Cavale said. Cavale believes biometric payments systems will shine in applications where a quick payment method is needed. "If you're running to catch a train, and buying a cup of coffee and a newspaper, your time has more value," he said. So far, Citibank's biometric payment systems are only in place at a handful of outlets in Singapore, including local coffee shops and the popular Zouk night club. But the bank has plans to quickly expand the number of such systems and the number of Citibank card holders able to use them. "Our intention is to roll it out very quickly to other cards," Cavale said. Citibank chose to start the rollout of the biometric payment system with the Clear Platinum card because it is targeted at younger Singaporeans, ranging in age from 25 to 34. "We launched with this segment because the uptake is going to be very strong," he said. Getting signed up to use the biometric payment system, provided by Pay By Touch, of San Francisco, is relatively easy. Citibank has installed kiosks at several Singapore branches where card holders can register their fingerprints. To sign up, Citibank customers need to provide valid photo identification and a seven-digit numeric passcode used with the fingerprint to authenticate payment. This is the first time that Citibank has tested a biometric payment system, and the bank's operations in other countries, especially in Asia, are watching what happens in Singapore with interest, Cavale said. "Our plans include taking this technology around the region," he said.
512054
The chain wants you to use reloadable cards instead of cash. Can you blame 'em?
219002
Blog: A sweeping new proposal scheduled for a preliminary vote Wednesday contains criminal penalties for unauthorized sales and fraudulent uses of Social Security numbers, but are there too many exceptions?
623287
Think twice before assuming you're using the right card.
345683
Point-of-sale (POS) systems pose a clear but often overlooked danger to consumer credit card data, according to a whitepaper from Hacker Factor Solutions.
53593
Your credit card may be in significant danger at the gas pump, and not (just) from high fuel prices. According to a Gartner analyst, point-of-sale terminals are emerging as a substantial security problem.