Based largely on input from member organizations, the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) lengthened the evaluation and update process of its data security standards from a two- to a three-year lifecycle. The council also streamlined the development, review and compliance phases of the standards by aligning all three of them on the same timetable.

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As the details of the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010 continue to be hammered out, an amendment introduced by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., to regulate fees levied on merchants for card transactions appears to have secured its place. On June 21, 2010, both houses of Congress agreed on a provision to regulate debit card interchange in the financial regulatory bill.

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Seizing new revenue opportunities in the changing payments industry landscape will be the focus of the 8th Annual Midwest Acquirers Association Conference. The event will take place from July 21 to 23, 2010, at the Renaissance Hotel & Convention Center in Schaumburg, Ill. "Our theme, 'Changing Times … Changing Visions,' is in keeping with the economy and how the industry is changing in terms of payment methods," said Donna Ayers, Director of Marketing for ACH Payment Solutions and Vice President Elect of the MWAA.

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With the game card sector of the prepaid card industry growing exponentially, it is becoming apparent how important prepaid cards are in helping online game and social networking publishers translate virtual services into real world profits. Game cards act as a way for game card publishers to monetize digital content and interactive experiences, according to Dr. Joost van Dreunen, Lead Analyst and Managing Director at SuperData Research Inc. Game cards exist in "that intersection between traditional retail know-how and more modern, technology-based distribution models," he said.

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The international fraud fight may have an interesting new aspect. A global firm called ValidSoft is preparing to implement a program designed to authenticate payment card purchases by measuring proximity between a card transaction and the cardholder's cell phone.

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A cyber attack simulation exercise that tested the security networks of over 700 financial institutions and other organizations was successful in educating participants about the current threat landscape and helping them improve enterprise-wide security, according to John South, Chief Security Officer at Heartland Payment Systems Inc. and co-leader of the exercise.

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A new First Data Corp. white paper reports that cybercriminals have adopted their own form of software as a service (SaaS). It's called fraud as a service (FaaS), which uses the same online infrastructure as SaaS to more efficiently perpetrate fraud schemes.

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The PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) recently published version 3.0 of the PIN Transaction Security (PTS) Point of Interaction (POI) security requirements. The new PTS – the end result of a three-year review of the previous version of the standard – is a set of protocols for POS terminal manufacturers to follow when designing PIN entry devices (PEDs) and incorporating them into POS systems.

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