jeremydrzal's blog

The second distribution under the $700 billion bailout brings the total dispersed to publicly-traded banks to $158.56 billion.

Maybe the old-fashioned credit card won't become obsolete after all.

Chip and PIN was supposed to help protect us all from card fraud. But Cambridge researchers, Steven Murdoch and Saar Drimer, have found a ... all » number of ways that the criminally-minded could crack it - and extract your account number and PIN and all the details needed to create a cloned card. More details are available on the University of Cambirdge website

From Newsnight, BBC2, February 26, 2008.

PORTLAND, Maine — A security breach at an East Coast supermarket chain exposed 4.2 million credit and debit card numbers and led to 1,800 cases of fraud, the Hannaford Bros.

Aneace Haddad, founder and chairman of Welcome (Real Time) has recently published a seminar presentation with full audio, titled “Making Maestro the preferred debit brand in post-SEPA Europe”.

Visa Inc. (VSA.XX), which plans to go public by next year, named Citigroup Inc.'s (C) Hans Morris president, effective Sept. 1.

The company said John Philip Coghlan resigned as Visa USA president and chief executive, a position he has held since July 2005. John Partridge, president of Inovant LLC, will assume the expanded responsibilities in the interim.

By Teresa F. Lindeman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Given the choice, consumers may be willing to pay a little extra to do business with online retailers that are more likely to protect their private information -- whether its guarding credit card data or not divulging the purchase of a sex toy -- according to new research from Carnegie Mellon University.

According to a First Data SEC filing, employees are being reasssured the company buyer is not going to splitting the company up or selling divisions.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. agreed to pay $29 billion for First Data Corp. The deal is expected to close by the end of the third quarter.

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 is going into effect this year and will increase Daylight savings Time (DST) by 4 weeks by starting 3 weeks earlier than normal and ending 1 week later.

Here is a good summary from Gartner on the risks of non-compliance for PCI/CISP
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23 January 2007

Avivah Litan

The President's State of the Union speach will outline many issues for healthcare, including the endorsement and further support of HSA's which has many benefits to the financial community.

"The President Has Proposed Expanding Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). HSAs allow people to save money for health care tax-free, and to take these accounts with them if they move from job to job. In December, the President signed legislation to bring HSAs within the reach of more Americans.

Customer Data Exposed in Major Data Breach

By Martin H. Bosworth
ConsumerAffairs.Com

TJX Companies Inc., the corporate parent of retail chains T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, was hit with an "unauthorized intrusion" that exposed customers' credit and debit card data to the hacker, the company said today.

Online search leader Google Inc. said Wednesday it is waiving the merchant processing fees for its 4-month-old payment service through Dec. 31, hoping the offer will spur more retailers to check it out.

The recently passed New York state law provides New York residents with the option to "freeze" their credit information, effectively keeping identity theft thieves out and valuable credit information secure.

Fair Isaac Corp.'s chief executive of almost seven years has resigned, the Minneapolis-based analytics firm said Wednesday, the same day it reported a 38 percent drop in fourth-quarter earnings.

Thomas Grudnowski, 56, resigned as CEO effective immediately, but agreed to stay on through Jan. 31 as the company transitions to new leadership. Fair Isaac executives declined to comment on the reasons for Grudnowski's departure in a Wednesday afternoon conference call, but A. George Battle, chairman of the board, assured stakeholders the split was amicable and devoid of scandal.