86 Character Password or "Eighty-Six" Passwords Completely?

Help Net Security talks with an IT expert about what makes a strong password. They conclude that it should be no shorter than 86 symbols. So the way I see it, we have two choices.

1. Create your 86 character password now. Here's an example:

3sqk3hvo9xa
wk3n4ffsiUfxk
wpx92skgnns
w1qQ2hdMjLg
^9T%dsqwdK2
6aZdgvo95d02
kfoeNsPsWau
Us4J3S

2. Eighty-Six (Eliminate) Passwords Completely

That's the one that gets my vote. Think keyloggers care if they have to cut and paste 4 digits or 86? We need to "get smart"...we need to swipe, encrypt, transmit.

From HNS: What makes a strong password?

In 1948 an American mathematician and engineer Claude Shannon entered information entropy term (measurement of uncertainty) in his work "A Mathematical Theory of Communication". If we take, for example, English text, it takes 8 bit (one byte) to represent one symbol. Eight bit allow encoding 256 different symbols. However, there are only 26 characters in English alphabet and they can be easily represented by five bit (32 possible combinations). Consequently, uncertainty of one symbol of an English text makes not 8, but less than 5 bit.

In addition, some symbols and combinations are considerably more frequently used than others. A letter “E” is encountered hundred times more frequently than “Z”, and “U” always follows “Q”. Such peculiarities allow reducing uncertainty even more. According to mathematicians’ evaluation it makes around 1.5 bit per symbol for texts in English.

This means that if information is protected by encryption with 128-bit encryption key, and a password will be an English phrase (without space characters, punctuation marks, and in one register), a really strong password (an oxymoron) should be no shorter than 128/1.5 = 86 symbols.

Speaking about the Internet in general - we won’t escape from passwords in the nearest future. They are habitual and their usage doesn’t require special equipment.

Editors Note: That may be true when it comes to accessing email, but when it comes to securing financial transactions, we can't afford to be messing around with passwords...anymore.
Especially when our device costs less than most "useless" bank promos.

BTW: Did you know that the "P" in Passwords is silent?
Keep It Smart, Swipe!

"However, in business segment passwords will continue to get substituted by two-factor authentication (e.g. smart card/USB Token + password/PIN code).

Though such means of authentication require financial expenditures, they should be paid. (they can afford it...vs. the alternative)

They will guarantee a significantly higher security level than the one provided by using only passwords."

Out of Band Authentication Compromised

Fraudsters Find a Flaw in Elite Authentication

American Banker  |  Monday, November 30, 2009

by Rebecca Sausner

Banks in the U.K. are battling fraudsters who have found a way to compromise out-of-band authentication — widely considered one of the strongest security formats...

Continue Reading at American Banker
(subscription required)

Will the UK Abolish Check Clearing?

UK May Abolish Check Clearing

Bank Technology News  |  November, 2009

by John Adams

The trend toward cards and electronic payments has become strong enough that the largest banks in the United Kingdom are scheduled to vote soon on whether to stop clearing checks.

Members of the United Kingdom’s Payments Council, consisting of banks, are scheduled to vote in Dec. 16, with an announcement on the vote scheduled for January. A deadline for the end of check clearing was not announced, but 2018 has been floated by the Council as a possible deadline during past deliberations on the subject.

Continue Reading at BTN

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eBillme Announces Revenue Sharing Program for FI's

Image via CrunchBase

Today eBillme™, the most secure payment option online that enables consumers to use online banking and bill pay services to pay now, pay securely, and use available funds, announces a new revenue sharing program for financial institutions, bill pay portals, and walk-in networks. As part of this new program, eBillme will offer a revenue share for every eBillme transaction generated by the third party, which is an opportunity for financial institutions to leverage their investment in online banking, expand their online bill pay offerings, and generate new revenue.

“eBillme leverages online banking for eCommerce checkout to give consumers a secure way to pay with cash online,” says Marwan Forzley, President and CEO of eBillme. “Consumers bank and pay bills online because they trust their financial institution. This new program is an opportunity for financial institutions to give customers that same sense of security and confidence while shopping online and to finally be able to turn a profit in this sector of their business. And for merchants, this program will bring cash-paying customers to the eCommerce sector at a time when the consumer demand for ways to pay with cash is at an all-time high. We are looking forward to welcoming more financial institutions into this program to make eBillme valuable to them and their customers.”

The pilot program, which began over the summer, included some of the nation’s top banks and walk-in providers leveraging their online, e-mail, and print channels to offer the eBillme credit card alternative to their customer base.

“As the payment preferences of our clients continue to evolve, we are always looking for innovative ways to meet their needs, and this is especially true for online commerce transactions,” says Steve Karp, Senior Vice President of Enterprise Payments Strategy for SunTrust. “Security, convenience, and ease of use are very important to our clients when it comes to making purchases online, and we feel that eBillme brings tremendous value in these areas. This relationship allows SunTrust to extend the value and utility of our online bill payment service, while at the same time providing our clients with unique discounts and incentives at the more than 800 online stores that accept eBillme.”

Matt Frye, Vice President of Product Development for PreCash, says: “We are thrilled to offer cash-paying consumers a way to shop online and pay with cash at our walk-in bill payment locations. Additionally, adding eBillme as a payment option for our Vision Premier® Visa® Prepaid cardholders offers them another secure way to pay when shopping with their card online. eBillme offers our customers the ability to shop online and take advantage of unique offers and discounts within their growing network of online retailers.”

The program brings a significant increase in new customer acquisitions for the more than 800 eBillme merchants.

“eBillme has been a solid performer bringing new customers and a high AOV to our checkout,” says Jeff Wisot, Vice President of Marketing for Buy.com. “eBillme has delivered a 70 percent higher ticket value than our site average, and more than 70 percent of eBillme users were new customers to Buy.com. This program is further evidence that eBillme can deliver a great ROI to online retailers.”

The revenue sharing program has also launched on community sites and will be expanded to include more banks, bill pay portals, and walk-in providers. Companies interested in becoming a part of this program, or learning more about the benefits are encouraged to contact eBillme at sales@ebillme.com.

About eBillme

eBillme™ is the most secure way to pay online and the only online payment solution that extends the convenience of online banking to the merchant’s checkout process. The service enhances security for online shoppers, and enables merchants to increase sales while reducing transaction costs. No financial data is exposed and the payment transaction is securely transferred from the customer’s bank to the retailer’s bank. Consumers can shop online, by catalog or through call centers, and pay for their purchases at their bank, credit union, or bill pay portal using the security and convenience of online banking or by paying the bill at over 75000 walk-in locations. For more information, please visit www.eBillme.com or eBillme’s Online Debt-Free Shopping Mall.

About SunTrust

SunTrust Banks, Inc., with total assets of $172.7 billion on September 30, 2009, is one of the nation's largest and strongest financial holding companies. Through its banking subsidiaries, the company provides deposit, credit, trust, and investment services to a broad range of retail, business, and institutional clients. Other subsidiaries provide mortgage banking, brokerage, investment management, equipment leasing, and capital market services.

Atlanta-based SunTrust enjoys leading market positions in some of the highest growth markets in the United States and also serves clients in selected markets nationally. The company operates 1,690 retail branches and 2,807 ATMs in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. In addition, SunTrust provides customers with a full range of technology-based banking channels, including Internet, PC, and Automated Telephone Banking.

About PreCash

PreCash provides convenient, real-time payment solutions that convert cash into electronic payments for consumers who do not use traditional payment methods such as credit cards or bank accounts. PreCash offers the Vision Premier Prepaid Visa® card and other prepaid Visa and MasterCard® products, prepaid debit card program management services, real-time cash bill payments, prepaid wireless refills, payroll card products, and more. The company places more than 30,000 prepaid debit cards in the market monthly and services more than 30,000 national retail, wireless dealers and independent retail locations nationwide. Founded in 1998, PreCash is headquartered in Houston, Texas, with additional offices in Portland, Oregon. For more information, visit www.precash.com or www.visionprepaid.com.

PRESS RESOURCES

eBillme Website: http://www.eBillme.com

eBillme Blog: http://blog.ebillme.com/

@eBillme on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/eBillme

Marwan Forzley: http://www.ebillme.com/about/management-team/

Visa Europe Predicts Busiest Ever ‘Mega Monday’ for Online Shopping

Visa Europe predicts that Monday November 30 will be the busiest ever day for online shopping in Europe and over 3,000 transactions carried by cardholders of Visa cards set to take place every minute on a Visa card across Europe.

Visa Europe says over €318 million is likely to be spent by European cardholders of Visa cards in Europe, with two thirds taking place on Visa debit cards. The volume of transactions is also expected to increase thus by 13% compared with the same day of last year.

Around 4.5 million transactions will take place on November 30, with the busiest period for online sales predicted to be around lunchtime with another peak around 7pm. This will represent a year on year growth of 16%. Over the course of the day, approximately €220,000 will be spent on Visa cards every minute.

Last year, December 1 was the busiest day for online sales with over €280 million spent on Visa cards across Europe. The continued growth in online spend is further shown by the fact that spend on Visa cards has already surpassed 2008’s peak on November 2, 2009.

Visa bases its predictions on up to the minute spending data and previous years’ Christmas spending trends. Over €1 in every €9 spent in Europe is on a Visa card, making this data one of the most reliable indicators of trends in consumer spending, Visa said in a release.

“In the past year, we’ve seen a continued increase in online spend on Visa cards, despite the recession. In fact on November 2, 2009, we surpassed our busiest day for spend in 2008 in Europe. Consumers are becoming increasingly confident shopping online and appreciate the security and convenience of doing so with a Visa card,” said Steve Perry, Commercial Director at Visa Europe.

On the High Street, the last Friday or Saturday before Christmas is usually the busiest shopping day but with Christmas falling on a Friday this year, Visa Europe predicts the busiest day will actually be Wednesday, December 23. Visa expects to process over 27 million transactions across Europe worth around €1.4 billion on this day alone. This represents a 9% growth in spend on 2008. The busiest time is expected to be from 11am to 12pm on Thursday, December 24 when Visa will process up to 850 transactions per second, compared to 731 in 2008.

MasterCard to Host Investment Community Webcast at the Goldman Sachs U.S. Financial Services Conference 2009

PURCHASE, N.Y., Nov. 30  -- On Tuesday, December 8, Tim Murphy, Group Executive, Core Products for MasterCard (NYSE: MA), will participate in the Goldman Sachs U.S. Financial Services Conference 2009 in New York City. The discussion will begin at 3:30 p.m. (Eastern) and last for approximately 40 minutes.

A listen-only live audio webcast will be accessible through the Investor Relations section of the MasterCard website at www.mastercard.com. An audio replay of the session will also be available for 30 days at the same website location.

About MasterCard Incorporated
MasterCard Incorporated advances global commerce by providing a critical economic link among financial institutions, businesses, cardholders and merchants worldwide. As a franchisor, processor and advisor, MasterCard develops and markets payment solutions, processes approximately 21 billion transactions each year, and provides industry leading analysis and consulting services to financial-institution customers and merchants. Powered by the MasterCard Worldwide Network and through its family of brands, including MasterCard® Maestro® and Cirrus® MasterCard serves consumers and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. For more information go to www.mastercard.com.
SOURCE MasterCard Incorporated

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75% of Consumers Feel Online Shopping Less Safe than Retail Shopping

Is Online Shopping Safe for the Holiday Season?

New Study Shows Consumers May Be Misinformed Regarding Identity Theft Risks

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Consumers may have incorrect perceptions regarding identity theft while shopping for the holidays, according to a study commissioned by ProtectMyID.com™, the multilayered identity theft detection, protection and fraud resolution product.1

According to the survey, nearly 75 percent of all consumers feel that shopping online instead of at a retail location leaves them more vulnerable to identity theft.

However, these sentiments are contrary to data showing that only one in 10 cases of identity theft occur as a result of online activity.2  

Editor's Note:  That doesn't preclude the fact that 75% of consumers feel online shopping is unsafe compared to shopping at a retail location...perception is reality.  Here's another reality.  When consumers shop at a retail location they "swipe" their card vs. type their card number into a box on a website.  Therein lies the problem.  If consumers were to be equipped with their very own personal point of sale device, such as HomeATM's PCI certified PIN Entry Device, the risk of fraud would be dramatically decreased.

The data also reveals that shoppers’ fears regarding identity theft are heightened during the holiday season, as more than half of respondents felt that the time of year contributed to a greater all-around risk. This heightened fear combined with the busiest shopping period of the year underscores the need for education and awareness surrounding identity theft.

“No one wants to have to deal with the damages caused by identity theft, especially around the holidays,” said Jennifer Leuer, general manager of ProtectMyID.com. “Fortunately, there are simple things people can do now to protect themselves while shopping, and there are products such as ProtectMyID.com that provide a layered defense against this crime.”

Even leading industry organizations, such as the Identity Theft Resource Center®, are urging consumers to be cautious and alert this holiday season.

“As we have seen year after year, the holiday time frame always yields a higher rate of identity theft and related frauds,” said Linda Foley, founder of the Identity Theft Resource Center. “At times like these, it is important to protect yourself from the many individuals looking to take advantage of vulnerable targets both out in public and online.”

To aid consumers in this regard, ProtectMyID.com and the Identity Theft Resource Center have compiled a list of top tips to help protect against identity theft this holiday season:

• Beware of shoulder surfers. Protect credit cards, driver’s licenses and checks from wandering eyes.
• Beware of skimmers. Skimming occurs when a clerk slides your credit card through a second machine to download its information onto a counterfeit card. Remember to keep your eyes on your cards at all times.
• Be aware of your surroundings. Pay extra attention in crowded malls, as pickpocketing numbers noticeably increase during the holidays.
• Minimize purse/wallet contents. Carry only the cards you know you will use.
• Secure your cards. Never leave your purse/backpack/bag unzipped, and keep a hand on it when in crowded stores.
• Use your online shopping smarts. Keep printouts of information detailing your Web purchases. Use a credit card instead of a debit card if possible, and make sure the company’s Website is on a secure server.
• Visit trusted sites. Shopping at trusted Websites or those recommended via secure comparison shopping sites, such as PriceGrabber.com^®, can be a good way to reduce online shopping risks.
• Be careful with personal items when shopping. Don’t leave your laptop; purse; or any item with credit cards, checks, driver’s license or Social Security numbers visible in your car.

Several other interesting statistics from ProtectMyID.com’s consumer survey include:

• Seventy-six percent of the tech-savvy age 18 to 24 demographic expect to do their holiday shopping in-store.
• A noteworthy 74 percent of respondents age 55 to 64 feel that in-store shopping is safer than purchasing online.
• More than half of individuals age 18 to 24 and older than 65 claim to know someone who has been a victim of identity theft. Forty-four percent of overall respondents make the same assertion.
• Overall, nearly two in 10 people surveyed have personally been victims of identity theft.

About ProtectMyID.com™
ProtectMyID.com is a leading, full-service provider of identity theft detection, protection and fraud resolution. ProtectMyID.com offers comprehensive identity theft protection products supported by experienced identity theft resolution professionals who deliver personal attention that customers can rely on. ProtectMyID.com is a Website owned by ConsumerInfo.com Inc., an Experian company. For more information about how ProtectMyID.com helps consumers protect themselves against identity theft, please visit http://www.protectmyid.com/.

About Experian
Experian^® is the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to clients in more than 65 countries. The company helps businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. Experian also helps individuals to check their credit report and credit score and protect against identity theft.

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iPhone Virus Designed to Steal Online Banking Passwords at Phoney Websites

From Mobile Financial dot Com:

This virus is designed to steal online banking passwords and scrape the user's SMS messages. It is basically a phishing attack whereby it dupes iPhone users visiting their online banking website with a "phoney" look-alike to steal their passwords. There have been confirmed reports of this happening in the Netherlands with users accessing ING online banking from their phones.

While these viruses have only targeted the small percentage of iPhones...it does highlight the risks that smartphones will face more and more as they become the tool of choice for consumers to stay connected online. This should not be overlooked by the mobile financial services community and it would be wise for the leaders in this space to begin to offer solutions towards thwarting these types of threats before they become a reality.

Read the Entire Article

Digital River to Participate at the Airline & Travel Payments Summit

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Digital River, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRIV), a leading provider of global e-commerce solutions, announced its business unit, Netgiro Systems, will participate in an industry panel at the Airline & Travel Payments Summit. The event is being held Dec. 2-3, 2009, at the Wyndham Miami Airport Hotel & Executive Meeting Center in Miami, Fla.

During a panel on localized payments, Netgiro, a leading global payment service provider, will discuss the payment-related challenges online travel companies face when taking their businesses international. Drawing upon its relationship with banks worldwide and its international payments platform, Netgiro offers online merchants global online payment solutions that are tailored to their target markets, industries and risk tolerances. Netgiro delivers its technology and services, which are designed to help expand international reach and simplify payment administration, as a stand-alone payment solution as well as an integrated part of Digital River’s global e-commerce solution.

The Airline & Travel Payments Summit is a conference that gathers payment professionals within the travel sector as well as from the payment and fraud industries. For more information, visit http://www.airlineinformation.org/AI_conferences/ATPS2009/index.html.

About Digital River, Inc.
Digital River, Inc., a leading provider of global e-commerce solutions, builds and manages online businesses for software and game publishers, consumer electronics manufacturers, distributors, online retailers and affiliates. Its multi-channel e-commerce solution, which supports both direct and indirect sales, is designed to help companies of all sizes maximize online revenues as well as reduce the costs and risks of running an e-commerce operation. The company’s comprehensive platform offers site development and hosting, order management, fraud management, export controls, tax management, physical and digital product fulfillment, multi-lingual customer service, advanced reporting and strategic marketing services.

Founded in 1994, Digital River is headquartered in Minneapolis with offices across the U.S., Asia, Europe and South America. For more details about Digital River, visit the corporate Web site at www.digitalriver.com or call +1 952-253-1234.

Digital River is a registered trademark of Digital River, Inc. All other company and product names are trademarks, registrations or copyrights of their respective owners.

 

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Columbia's Largest Bank Deploys Actimize Card

Image via Wikipedia

Bancolombia Works with Actimize, a NICE Company, and Unisys to Build Stronger Enterprise-Wide Fraud Management Program

Colombia's Largest Bank Deploys Actimize Card, Remote Banking, Deposit, Wire and Employee Fraud Prevention Solutions on a Single Technology Platform

NEW YORK, November 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Actimize, a NICE Systems (NASDAQ:NICE) company and the largest and broadest provider of a single financial crime, risk and compliance software platform for the financial services industry, and Unisys Corporation ( UIS) today announced that Bancolombia is working with both firms to strengthen its ability to fight fraud across the entire bank. Bancolombia is implementing Actimize ATM/Debit, Remote Banking, Wire & ACH Fraud prevention solutions. As a strategic Actimize partner, Unisys is working on deployment of the solutions.

As a leader in the Colombian market, Bancolombia strives to best protect customer and firm assets by combating the threat of fraud across all its lines of business. Once deployed, the Actimize suite of fraud prevention solutions will monitor all types of transactions enterprise-wide, alerting on suspicious behavior and blocking truly risky transactions.

"We performed an exhaustive review of all the top fraud prevention solutions in the market, looking for a single vendor who can cover our entire enterprise fraud needs," said Joaquin Fernando Yepes, IT security and compliance director at Bancolombia. "Actimize solutions and Unisys services are a major component of Bancolombia's strategy to provide greater levels of security to our customers."

Financial institutions are being confronted with new types of fraud attacks on a daily basis. In the past, fraud criminals typically specialized in a single channel (e.g., credit card fraud, online banking fraud), but now high loss fraud events increasingly incorporate multiple channels. The Actimize enterprise-wide fraud solution suite protects across all channels, from ATM/Debit cards, remote banking (online, mobile phone, phone), deposit, electronic payment and more. Additionally, Actimize solutions monitor many types of employee behavior, looking for and alerting investigators to suspicious activities.

"Fraud is a global problem that has no boundaries," said Amir Orad, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Actimize. "Our strategic partnership with Unisys helps Actimize ensure quality deployments around the globe. Our cross-channel financial crime prevention solutions are today used by firms around the world because they scale to meet the challenges faced by large, complex enterprises while maintaining the flexibility to exceed group level and individual expectations."

About Actimize

Actimize, a NICE Systems company (NASDAQ: NICE), is the world's largest and broadest provider of a single financial crime, risk and compliance software platform for the financial services industry. Actimize empowers its clients to prevent financial crime, mitigate risk, reduce operational costs, minimize losses and improve compliance. Actimize provides real-time and cross-channel fraud prevention, anti-money laundering, enterprise investigations, risk management and trading surveillance solutions; built upon the Actimize Core Platform which has been enhanced by the company's acquisitions of Syfact and Fortent (Searchspace) analytics and technology. With offices across North America, Europe, and Asia, Actimize serves more than 200 clients globally including all of the world's 10 largest financial institutions. www.actimize.com

About NICE Systems

NICE Systems (NASDAQ: NICE) is the leading provider of Insight from Interactions(TM) solutions and value-added services, powered by the convergence of advanced analytics of unstructured multimedia content and transactional data - from telephony, web, email, radio, video, and other data sources. NICE's solutions address the needs of the enterprise and security markets, enabling organizations to operate in an insightful and proactive manner, and take immediate action to improve business and operational performance and ensure safety and security. NICE has over 24,000 customers in more than 150 countries, including over 85 of the Fortune 100 companies. More information is available at http://www.nice.com.

Alternative Payments 101 from TDG-PHENIX

Why Alternative Payments? You are a merchant seeking to reach a customer that you don't have access to today: the under-banked You are a financial institution seeking incremental payments revenue securely through a trusted online banking portal You want to understand why PayPal has 150 million customers and how it could affect your business or FI You want to see what former AOL'er Steve Case is up to with Revolution Money Maybe you want a career in alternative payments... Thursday December 10 2009 Alternative Payments 101 This two-hour session gives participants an introduction to the world of alternative payments (it's no longer about credit or debit anymore, folks...) We will examine some established and emerging players in the alternative payments space, review current metrics on alternative payments, discuss market predictions and examine the various risks and opportunities these alternative payments pose to the financial institution and payments processor. This session will even demonstrate some of these payments in action, including: Bill Me Later PayPal Tempo / DebitMan eBillMe Google Checkout NACHA's Secure Vault Payments Green Dot Financial Western Union Amazon Payments Who should attend? Senior management Product managers e-Commerce management Financial institution executives Operations management Card processing professionals 1:30 - 3:30PM Eastern $159. per line How does it work? Register online shop -- we accept all cards and PayPal. One day prior to the session, you will receive an email with a webinar hyperlink, dial-in instructions and information on how to download the presentation the day of the webinar.  If you are planning on having multiple locations dialing in and participating, you will need to register them separately -- a webinar link is valid for one workstation and one dial-in access. Any questions, don't hesitate to email us at news@tdgphenix.com or tweet us @tdgphenix or call at 615-373-5486