The credit card industry is accelerating efforts to keep sensitive customer information out of the hands of merchants, as a rash of data breaches at major U.S. retailers erodes confidence in electronic payment systems, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. are rolling out technology that replaces cardholder information such as account numbers and expiration dates with a unique series of numbers that validates the customer's identity. The new technology is expected to get a big boost next week because it will be part of Apple Inc. 's latest iPhone, which for the first time will let customers make payments with the device in brick-and-mortar stores. The move is part of a broader push by card-issuing banks and merchants to improve security for electronic payments. The vulnerability of merchant systems was highlighted again this week when Home Depot Inc. said that it might have been the victim of a data breach. (Subscription required.)
http://online.wsj.com/articles/credit-card-industry-ramps-up-security-e…
Financial cyber-security will be addressed at ABI's Winter Leadership Conference as Theresa Payton, President and CEO of Fortalice LLC, presents her keynote, "Privacy in the Age of Big Data." Payton is the former White House CIO, Cybersecurity Authority, and an expert on identity theft. Click here for more information and to register: http://www.abiworld.org/WLC14/