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Finance

New security standards for mobile payments coming

Angela Moscaritolo June 18, 2009

A financial services technology group is developing standards for making secure mobile payment transactions.

FTC releases FAQs on Red Flags Rules

Angela Moscaritolo June 12, 2009

A new frequently-asked-questions document aims to clear up some of the confusion around the Red Flags Rules.

Identity theft ring busted in New York

Chuck Miller May 28, 2009

Using financial information purchased from crooked bank insiders, a ring of thieves stole millions of dollars.

Skimmers scam $500,000

Chuck Miller May 11, 2009

A gang of criminals hauled in a half million dollars from ATMs at banks in New York City by attaching a hardware card reader, or skimmer, and video camera to ATMs. According to a report Monday in the N.Y. Daily News, as unsuspecting Sovereign Bank patrons withdrew money from the ATMs, the skimmer recorded their bank information and the camera filmed their PINs. The thieves then counterfeited the cards and hit other ATMs for daily withdrawal maximums. No arrests were reported as of Monday morning. — CAM

U.S. missile defense information found in disk bought on eBay

Angela Moscaritolo May 07, 2009

A hard disk containing the launch procedures for a U.S. military missile defense system was recently purchased on eBay.

Heartland again PCI compliant

Dan Kaplan May 01, 2009

Breached payment card processor Heartland Payment Systems has been again certified compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), the company announced Friday. In March, two months after the breach was disclosed, Visa removed Heartland from its list of compliant service providers. Some experts questioned whether the removal meant merchants risked being fined for doing business with Heartland, but Visa issued a statement saying this was not true. Heartland said it is expects to rejoin the Visa-approved list on Monday. — DK

FTC extends Red Flags Rule enforcement three more months

Angela Moscaritolo May 01, 2009

The day before the Federal Trade Commission was to begin enforcing the Red Flags Rule, the agency announced the deadline for compliance will be extended for the second time, until Aug. 1.

Former Federal Reserve Bank IT worker charged with ID theft

Angela Moscaritolo April 27, 2009

Two brothers, one a former IT analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, have been charged with committing identity theft to obtain fraudulent loans.

RSA: Cybercriminals keeping up with banking safeguards

Dan Kaplan April 22, 2009

Customer education and a holistic security strategy are the best approaches to fight fraud within the financial services community, a panel of experts said Wednesday at the RSA Conference in San Francisco.

How the recession is affecting IT spending

Angela Moscaritolo April 20, 2009

Despite the financial crisis, companies are still putting forth money for IT security efforts while overall IT spending is less of a priority, according to a new survey conducted by strategy and business advisory firm MetroSITE Group, and Pacific Crest Securities, a technology investment bank.

Corporate users increasingly skirt security infrastructures

Angela Moscaritolo April 16, 2009

In a recent assessment, organizations had an average of 156 applications traversing their networks -- some of which pose a danger to the organization.

Phishing increased 40 percent in 2008

Angela Moscaritolo April 15, 2009

The percentage of people losing money to phishing attacks is higher than ever -- five million consumers in the United States fell victim during 2008, an increase of 40 percent over 2007, according to a new report from Gartner.

Criminals exploit careless mistakes as data breaches hit record

Chuck Miller April 15, 2009

In a study of large-scale data breaches in 2008, Verizon Business found that cybercriminals profited mostly from exploiting careless mistakes.

Microsoft report shows scareware, file-fomat bugs on rise

Dan Kaplan April 08, 2009

So-called scareware programs top the list of internet threats, according to Microsoft's sixth Security Intelligence Report.

FTC site helps meeting "Red Flags Rule"

Angela Moscaritolo April 03, 2009

The FTC has established a how-to guide for coping with new requirements aimed at deterring identity theft.

A saga of financial network security vulnerabilities

Greg Masters March 25, 2009

Flaws in the networks of financial institutions are illustrated in an account of the arrest of a hacker working out of Canada.

Database encryption: Top tips for protecting your company's most sensitive data

Christian Kirsch, senior manager, international product marketing, THALES Information Systems Security March 23, 2009

Strong security is all about reducing the attack surface available to hackers and malicious users.

Banking ID theft reaching epidemic proportions

Chuck Miller February 27, 2009

The volume of malware circulating on the web has reached epidemic proportions. And most of it is financial-identity-theft related.

Visa confirms another payment processor breach

Dan Kaplan February 23, 2009

Visa has confirmed that yet another payment processor has been hit by hackers.

BNY settles with Connecticut

Dan Kaplan February 18, 2009

Bank of New York Mellon has agreed to pay the state of Connecticut $150,000 and extend credit monitoring for victims another year, to a total of 36 months, as a result of a data breach reported last April that affected 600,000 residents of the Constitution State. An unencrypted backup tape holding the personal information of about 4.5 million bank customers disappeared three months earlier while in possession of a third-party vendor. Connecticut officials were outraged victims didn't learn about the incident sooner. The settlement was announced earlier this month. — DK

First arrests made in Heartland data breach case

Chuck Miller February 13, 2009

Three men have been arrested in Tallahasee, Fla., in connection with the Heartland data breach.

CASE STUDY: Stock Yards Bank & Trust

Greg Masters February 13, 2009

A biometric solution helps Stock Yards Bank & Trust manage passwords and aids in compliance efforts.

Businesses detecting ID fraud faster, absorbing more costs

Angela Moscaritolo February 09, 2009

Identity fraud increased by 22 percent last year, but the burden on consumers is lessening, according to a new study.

Deloitte: Firms lack confidence they can deter internal attacks

Chuck Miller February 05, 2009

The current financial crisis could lead to a rash of insider attacks against the world's top companies, according to Deloitte's annual security survey.

Was Scott McNealy right?

Luther Martin, chief security architect, Voltage Security February 05, 2009

Privacy may be an admirable goal, but it's not clear that people really want it.

Fannie Mae innocence plea

Dan Kaplan February 02, 2009

A disgruntled Fannie Mae former employee pleaded innocent during an arraignment on Friday to one count of computer intrusion. Rajendrasinh Makwana is accused of trying to destroy 4,000 company servers by planting malware that was scheduled to activate Saturday. Makwana, who was seeking revenge for being fired last October, faces up to 10 years in prison. The malware was detected before it caused any damage. -- DK

Disgruntled Fannie Mae insider indicted for cyber intrusion

Angela Moscaritolo January 29, 2009

A former Fannie Mae employee attempted to destroy 4,000 company servers with malicious code he planted in the system after being fired.

Heartland breach blamed on "extremely sophisticated" malware

Dan Kaplan January 22, 2009

When hackers broke into Heartland Payment System's networks to steal potentially tens of millions of credit card numbers, the company thought it was prepared.

Payment processor discloses potential monster breach

Dan Kaplan January 20, 2009

Heartland Payment Systems, a leading credit card processor, may have experienced one of the biggest reported data breaches in history.

Data breaches rose dramatically during 2008

Chuck Miller January 06, 2009

Breaches continue to plague organizations, despite more widespread education on safe information handling, as well as new laws and regulations, according to a nonprofit.