EMV
December 18th, 2015 by Elma Jane

A leading provider of mobile point of sale and mobile payment technology, published today the EMV Migration Tracker.

Many merchants have deployed EMV capable terminals while cardholders have received cards with EMV chips, but not much data has been published about the real world use of EMV chip card technology in the U.S. Most published statistics rely on surveys or forecasts rather than real transactional data.

The EMV Migration Tracker shows new data and insights since the October 1 liability shift, including:

  • Over 50% of all cards in use now have EMV chips on them. From October to November, the percent grew 5% as banks and card issuers accelerated their rollout of new chip cards.
  • Over 83% of American Express cards have EMV chips, while Discover lags at 40%
  • Over 63% of the cards used in Hawaii have EMV chips, but Mississippi sees just 11% penetration of chip cards.

While EMV chip card technology has been implemented in Europe years ago, the rollout of EMV in the U.S is just beginning. The rollout came earlier this year with the October 1 liability shift in card present transaction, meaning that merchants who have not upgraded their POS system can become liable for counterfeit card fraud losses that occur at their stores. This is an early step in an ongoing process that the Payments Security Task Force predicts will lead to 98 percent of U.S. credit and debit cards containing EMV chips by the end of 2017.

http://www.finextra.com/news/announcement.aspx?pressreleaseid=62506

 

 

 

 

 

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EMV
November 30th, 2015 by Elma Jane

Cybercriminals will continue to look for opportunities to steal payment information. Despite the superior security features associated with EMV technology, chip cards may still be vulnerable to certain types of fraud.

An EMV chip does not stop lost or stolen cards from being used in card-not-present transactions. Merchants who deal in card-not-present transactions like sales over the telephone or via the Internet are encouraged to adopt additional security measures to ensure the authenticity of cards used for transactions. The strength of the U.S. e-commerce market makes card-not-present fraud an equally important security issue that card issuers and merchants need to consider in the shift to chip cards for point-of-sale transactions.

Retailers and service providers who deal in card-present transactions are reminded that upgrading to EMV terminal at the POS is the best way to protect their customers and their business from fraudulent transactions.

EMV cards are available as either chip-and-PIN (requiring the cardholder to enter their personal identification number to complete a transaction) or chip-and-signature (requiring the cardholder’s signature), U.S. banks have primarily chosen to issue chip-and-sign cards for now.

While 59 percent of US adults have already received a new chip card, only 41 percent of them know its benefits and only 37 percent say their card issuers explained how to use the chip cards.

 

 

Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, e-commerce & m-commerce, EMV EuroPay MasterCard Visa, Point of Sale Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,

iCMP
November 19th, 2015 by Elma Jane

The Ingenico iCMP PIN pad is now available with Converge in the US! This EMV-enabled device is flexible to use with a USB connection and Converge or with a Bluetooth connection and Converge Mobile (launching soon!).

Key features of the Ingenico iCMP include:

Chip, Contactless and Mag Stripe  

Accept EMV chip cards, including Chip & Pin and Chip & Signature as well as mag stripe cards and contactless payments – mobile wallets like Apple Pay and contactless cards. The EMV-capabilities of the PIN pad help protect our customers from counterfeit card fraud.

Debit and Credit PIN Based Transactions

Accept debit and credit cards using PIN capabilities on the device. This is important to help further protect our customers from lost, stolen and NRI (not received/issued) fraud.

Encryption

Encrypted to keep card data separate and away from the mobile app/device and safe as it travels through the payment network.

Bluetooth or USB

Connect with a USB connection when using a computer and Converge www.convergepay.com or Bluetooth when using with the upcoming Converge Mobile app.

Pocket size 

Takes up little space on a countertop, and it’s easy to carry when on the go.

Give us a call now at 888-996-2273.

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Apple
November 17th, 2015 by Elma Jane

Get your Business Ready for Apple Pay and Let your Customers know you Accept Apple Pay!

Business owners can order Apple Pay Decals for their Stores. Each Packs includes Two Glass Decals and Two Register Decals in different sizes, and a tool for affixing the ads to the appropriate surfaces. Those who need more than five will need to call Apple to place an order.

Apple made the Apple Pay Logo available for download and provided a PDF explaining its guidelines. Apple specifies that the Apple Pay Logo should be placed ahead of similar marks for other payment services like MasterCard and Visa. The guidelines document of the payment mark are available from the Apple Site.

It’s easy!

Click here to download Apple Pay mark to use within email, on your terminal screen, and on your website.

Order Apple Pay decals for your store to put on your storefront window and register.

National Transaction Terminals with EMV/NFC (near field communication) Capability to accept Apple Pay, Android Pay and other NFC payment transactions at your business.                       Give us a call now at 888-996-2273.

 

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Tokenization
November 16th, 2015 by Elma Jane

Combat Fraud With Layered Approach!

Encryption and Tokenization a strong combination to protect cardholder data at all points in the transaction cycle.

Encryption – the strongest protection for card data when it’s in transit. From the moment a payment card is swiped or dipped at a terminal featuring a hardware-based, tamper resistant security module. Encryption protects the card data from fraudsters as it travels across various systems and networks until it is decrypted at secure data center. Encryption is ideally suited for any businesses that processes card transactions in a face to face or card present environment.

Tokenization – protects card data when it’s in use and at rest. It converts or replaces cardholder data with a unique token ID to be used for subsequent transactions. This eliminates the possibility of having card data stolen because it no longer exists within your environment. Tokens can be used in card not present environments such as e-commerce or mail order/telephone order (MOTO), or in conjunction with encryption in card present environments. Tokens can reside on your POS/PMS or within your e-commerce infrastructure at rest and can be used to make adjustments, add new charges, make reservations, perform recurring transactions, or perform other transactions in use.

A layered approach can be the most effective way to combat fraud. Security solutions that provide layers of protection, when used in combination with EMV and PCI-DSS compliance; to ensure you’re doing all you can to protect cardholder data from increasingly complex and evolving security threats.

Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Credit Card Security, e-commerce & m-commerce, EMV EuroPay MasterCard Visa, Mail Order Telephone Order, Mobile Point of Sale, Payment Card Industry PCI Security, Point of Sale Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

POS
November 13th, 2015 by Elma Jane

It’s important for merchants to understand the basic of how a credit card terminal works. It is the channel through which the process flows and the merchants can choose the right one for their processing needs, whether they use a point-of-sale (POS) countertop model, a cardreader that attaches to a smartphone or mobile device, a sleek handheld version for wireless processing or a virtual terminal for e-commerce transactions.

A credit card terminal’s function is to retrieve the account data stored on the payment card’s EMV microchip or a magnetic stripe and pass it along to the payment processing company (also known as merchant account provider).

For card-not-present (CNP) – mail order, telephone order and online transactions – the merchant enters the information manually using a keypad on the terminal, or the e-commerce shopper enters it on the website’s payment page. The back half of the process remains the same.

The actual data transmission goes from the terminal through a phoneline or Internet connection to a Payment Processing Company, which routes it to the bank that issued the credit card for authorization.

In card-present transactions where the card and cardholder are physically present, the card is connected to the reader housed in the POS terminal. The data is captured and transmitted electronically to the merchant account provider, who handles the authorization process with the issuing bank and credit card networks.

A POS retail terminal with a phone or Internet connection works best in a traditional retail setting that deals exclusively in card present transactions. For a business with a mobile sales, a mobile credit card processing option like Virtual Merchant Converge Mobile relies on a downloadable app to transform a smartphone or tablet into a credit card terminal equipped with a USB cardreader.

Wireless Terminals are compact, allowing you to accept credit cards in the field without relying on a phone connection. If you process debit cards, you’ll need a PIN pad in addition to your terminal so cardholders can enter their personal identification number to complete the sale.

Selecting the right terminal for your credit card processing needs depends largely on the type of business you run and the sorts of transactions you process. Terminals are highly specialized and provide different services. At National Transaction we offer a broad range of terminals with NFC (near field communication) Capability to accept Apple Pay, Android Pay and other NFC/Contactless payment transactions at your business. An informed business decision benefits your bottom line. Start accepting credit cards today with National Transaction.

 

 

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Biometrics
November 12th, 2015 by Elma Jane

The United States will leap-frog over chip-and-signature EMV cards quickly and move into biometrics and other security measures, a recent panel discussion on payment technology has heard.

Biometrics is going to play a bigger role in payments going forward because it can be more convenient and it can be a stronger form of verification.

Biometric technology has been a major topic in the payment industry. In another panel held during the recently concluded Money 20/20, experts discussed the role that it will play in the future of the payment industry.

The panel also talked about various biometric technologies including voice, face, iris and fingerprint recognition, which are paving way for new applications in the financial services and payments sectors.

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Convention
November 6th, 2015 by Elma Jane

Money 20/20 was billed as the largest convention in payments history held in Las Las Vegas, during the last week of October 2015.

The show delivered well-organized, incisive content such as Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) migration, mobile payments, security and omnichannel commerce.

20/20 Highlights

  • Alternative lending and credit.
  • Bill Payments, Financial Services: Newly released market research provides insights into the future of household bill payments, millennials, and financial services.
  • Connected Commerce and the Mobile Enterprise: The Internet of Things is changing the way that consumers interact with their environments. Analysts predict up to 30 billion interactive devices will be connected to the Internet by 2020, noting that many of these devices will be payment-enabled.
  • Marketing and Customer Experience: Most marketers agree that the era of demographic profiles and pull marketing is over. Retailers, card brands and information technology professionals looked at the customer experience in the digital world. They explored new marketing practices, trends in e-commerce and mobile commerce, and big data findings in other industries that may be useful to financial service companies.
  • Mobile Banking: Banks are undergoing an incremental transformation as they learn to compete with nonbank lenders, balance cash management with digital currencies, and shift from local branches to online and mobile forms of banking.
  • Mobile Payments: Payments analysts reviewed Apple Pay a year after its launch and a range of other mobile wallet offerings, and they speculated on how third-party wallets will impact bank apps.
  • Payment Card Evolution: Payment card issuers, processors and network service providers analyzed the changing look, feel and role of payment cards in the greater ecosystem. Discussions ranged from card linking to the coolness factor of gift cards to how e-cards are expanding market opportunities.
  • POS, Processing and Open Platforms: Executive roundtables with leading acquirers explored front-end and back-end technology and omnichannel commerce for small and midsize businesses.
  • Regulatory Landscape: Increased federal and state oversight has had a significant impact on the financial services sector.
  • Security: Security analysts made in-depth presentations on tokenization, end-to-end encryption, and secure methods of authentication designed to protect consumers, merchants and industry stakeholders from cybercriminals. Many agreed that EMV implementation in the United States will drive fraudsters to the card-not-present space. They discussed how EMV adoption has changed fraud patterns in other regions and offered examples of best practices geared toward identifying and preventing electronic payment fraud.

More than 10,000 attendees and 3,000 exhibitors from 75 countries attended Money20/20. Financial services professionals from mobile, retail, marketing services, data and technology met at what show organizers described as the intersection of mobile, retail, marketing services, data and technology.

The years to come will be a turning point in the payments sector, and with the recent shift to EMV, the entire conference confirmed that all the players are more interested than ever in finding innovative solutions for combating online fraud.

 

 

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Contacless
November 5th, 2015 by Elma Jane

EMV-compliant POS systems are now being equipped with NFC technology to accept contactless payments. What does this mean for the future of payments?

EMV lays the foundation for increased card-present and contactless payments security, with EMV, magnetic stripe cards are soon to be a bygone technology. Plastic EMV cards will not have a long lifespan as payments move into a more digital space, security and NFC upgrades merchants and consumers now will carry over into the digital and mobile payments space.

Consumers are constantly looking for more convenient ways to transact, which is made possible by the simultaneous adoption of EMV and NFC. While EMV supports plastic chip cards, payments are going digital and POS systems equipped with NFC technology save consumers from digging through their wallets, making it easier for consumers to transact via mobile devices. Mobile payments should be simple, scalable and affordable in today’s payment landscape and consumers should have the option to securely store and use multiple cards within their digital wallets or applications they most often use.

EMV standards increase security for card-present payments, which are relevant to many consumers today, but the convenience of mobile and contactless payments is the future. In an era of EMV, NFC plays as critical a role in propelling both technologies forward. Retailers and card issuers alike must recognize the opportunity to take advantage of both.

Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Credit Card Security, EMV EuroPay MasterCard Visa, Smartphone Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,

PCI COMPLIANCE
November 3rd, 2015 by Elma Jane

While EMV represents a significant improvement in the way credit/debit card fraud is detected and prevented, some have confused EMV’s capabilities with the concepts of data security and PCI compliance.

Does EMV override PCI?

The answer is NO, EMV technology does not satisfy any PCI requirements, nor does it reduce PCI scope.

  • EMV is counterfeit card fraud protection – it makes it more difficult to make use of stolen card data.
  • EMV is not encryption – EMV does not encrypt the Primary Account Number (PAN) and therefore the card data must still be protected according to PCI guidelines.
  • EMV only works for card present transactions.

If your business accepts credit or debit cards in a physical store or other face-to-face setting, you will need to implement the EMV technology and PCI standards. If you upgrade your terminals for EMV, consider adding point-to-point encryption (P2PE) capabilities to reduce PCI scope and protect data end to end. In addition, using tokens after authorization can prevent the card data from being used, should it be stolen.

 

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