Information Security

The risks from Cyber cime - Hacking - Loss of Data Privacy - Identity Theft and other topical threats - can be greatly reduced by implementation of robust IT Security controls ...

Retired Member 

Be Ready to Pursue - Before an Attack Occurs

100% security doesn’t exist. The frustrating truth is that almost every organisation will suffer a security breach at some point. Whether it is the defacing of a website, loss of data through a Trojan horse or the corruption of a system by a virus or worm, most companies will experience some form of data breach. This includes merchants who have d

05 August 2010 /security /retail

Retired Member 

How password recovery threatens online banking security

The online banking systems offered by the Lloyds Banking Group (including Bank of Scotland & Halifax) and the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (including Natwest, Royal Bank of Scotland & Ulster bank) are vulnerable to an attack which allows an adversary to commit financial fraud. More precisely, the login systems used by these banks to authen...

04 August 2010 /security

Retired Member 

Comprehensive Protection Against Fraud

In the past decade there has been a sharp increase in focus on the security of cardholder data held by third parties. High profile data breaches and the associated losses resulting from the fraudulent use of compromised cardholder data have made global headlines and have struck fear into consumers and merchants alike. Well publicised breaches inc

22 July 2010 /security /payments

Retired Member 

Consumer trust in contactless security a must for take-off

The National Payments Plan progress report that was published in June highlighted the Payment Council’s continued focus on alternative payment technologies such as contactless. The two-year progress update references the “Review of the contactless and prepaid card markets” published in May 2010, which highlighted concerns raised by a number of co...

05 July 2010 /payments

Retired Member 

A Multifaceted Approach to Fraud Prevention

Fraud is serious business. A recent report from PwC cited that hacking attacks overall are costing UK businesses at least £10bn a year. Fraud reduces customer confidence and brand integrity. Merchants however can fight back by taking measures to limit fraud exposure from the outset. How? By implementing comprehensive fraud and risk management pro

28 June 2010 /security /payments

Retired Member 

Australia's EMV roll out bites into card fraud

Payment card fraud statistics are not published by every country, which is one reason why the UK’s statistics are so often reported and quoted, and are used as evidence of the impact of the introduction of Chip and PIN EMV cards on fraud. Another country that publishes payment fraud statistics is Australia. It is going through a roll-out of EMV ...

18 June 2010 /security /payments

Retired Member 

Barclays compromise financial privacy

On September 23, 2009 I discovered a vulnerability on Barclays online banking service which permitted a remote adversary to peruse customer bank statements. Barclays were immediately notified, but defended their system design as a balance between privacy and usability. The Financial Service Authority (FSA) and Information Commisioner's Office (ICO...

01 June 2010 /security

Retired Member 

A bridge to mobile payments

What’s it going to take to get contactless payments off the ground? Contactless card payments have been proving more of a slow burner than a big bang, and the introduction of mobile phones with embedded NFC capabilities that could be used for contactless payments has also been slow. One of the issues with contactless card payments has been that re...

16 April 2010 /payments

Retired Member 

Transiting to open-loop contactless payments

If you don’t live in a large city, the revolution in mass transit payments that has taken place over the last few years may have passed you by. Cities as far apart as Melbourne, Beijing, London, Salt Lake City and Singapore have all introduced contactless smart cards for their transit systems. In these cities a single contactless transit card can ...

01 April 2010 /payments

Elton Cane Digital product delivery at News Corp Australia

Banks accept Dubai assassins' stolen IDs

Quite a few countries around the world had passports of their citizens copied as part of the assassination of Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. While the photos disemminated by the media were undoubtedly of the assassins, the rest of the details were of real citizens. Many media outlets in Australia happily splashed hi-res images of the full passp...

01 March 2010 /security