The Top 5 Security Best Practices for Small Merchants, a white paper published by payment security and compliance solutions provider ControlScan, is available free to small and midsize businesses (SMBs) and the acquirers who serve them. The purpose of the paper is to help SMBs become less likely targets for data thieves. The document provides detailed information on best practices that can be implemented easily and cost-effectively, the company said. "Small merchants represent the path of least resistance to data thieves," said Steve Robb, ControlScan Vice President of Products and Services.

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The Network Branded Prepaid Card Association's inaugural Power of Prepaid congress held June 3 to 6, 2012 in Washington, D.C., provided a snapshot of the current state of prepaid. For example, the Washington-based National Foundation for Credit Counseling shared details about consumer prepaid card behavior. The NFCC said 15 percent of Americans have used prepaid cards in the last 12 months, and that 13 percent of those folks used the cards for everyday expenses, like groceries, while 72 percent said used them as budgeting tools.

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A group of senators headed by Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., introduced a bill June 22, 2012, to create a national standard for companies responsible for protecting and securing electronic data. Currently, merchants and payments industry businesses that transmit, process, store or secure electronic third-party personal information must comply with separate standards in 46 states for protecting electronic data and reporting breaches.

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In recent ATM legal and regulatory news, a Texas federal judge refused to certify a class action pertaining to fee notices, the House Financial Services Committee set a date to review bipartisan legislation to ease ATM notice regulations and a Pennsylvania judge approved a consent decree requiring ATM accommodations for the blind. #h2Texas judge denies class certification On May 28, 2012, a judge in the San Antonio division of the Western District of Texas denied class certification for a claim alleging Houston ATM distributor Dixie Farm Texaco Inc., independent gas station chain Three Star Venture Inc. and RBS Citizens N.A. failed to put notices of ATM fees on the outside of their ATMs.

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The movement to repeal New Jersey's controversial unused gift card fund collection policy took another twist when a bill that extends the deadline for compliance with the ZIP code collection mandate passed both houses of the New Jersey legislature. S1928 passed the Senate on June 21, 2012; the same bill in the Assembly – A3045 – passed on June 25. The legislation now awaits New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to sign it into law.

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A new mobile proximity payments pilot will take place this summer at Burger King Corp. quick service restaurants in Salt Lake City. At the center of the pilot is the BK Mobile Crown Card, a mobile prepaid account that will allow customers to pay for BK purchases by using smart phones to scan quick response codes on restaurant counters and drive-up windows.

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A survey of Canadian companies found that the adoption of corporate employee incentive programs has accelerated over the last two years, with prepaid cards being cited as the most popular incentive tool by employees and employers. The 2012 Canadian Incentive Trends Survey, conducted by Toronto-based prepaid incentive card program manager Berkeley Payment Solutions, said organizations have implemented incentive programs at a 46 percent increase since 2010, and a 21 percent increase since 2011.

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The debate continues on whether the Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 will boost the bottom line for merchants and translate into lower prices for consumers. According to the Merchants Payments Coalition, a strong advocate of debit interchange reform representing member associations that collectively serve about 2.7 million merchant members, the reform is working to bring lower prices to consumers and spur retail sales.

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In an update describing the investigation of a data breach discovered by Global Payments Inc. in March 2012, Paul Garcia, the company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said the leading acquirer discovered hackers may have accessed personal information belonging to merchant applicants. The vulnerable information – which the company has not confirmed was accessed – contains names, addresses, Social Security numbers, drivers license numbers and bank account numbers from merchant applications.

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As part of a settlement of a class-action lawsuit against calling card provider NobelTel Inc. and its affiliates, the defendants will provide 400,000 $5 calling card "settlement PINs" to affected consumers. The PINs can be used by consumers allegedly defrauded by the calling card companies to make domestic and international calls that originate in California, according to the law firms Lee Tran & Liang APLC and Ziaee Law.

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Are you ready for the Europay/MasterCard/Visa (EMV) standard to hit the United States? Can you explain to clients what EMV is and why they need to incorporate it into their POS systems? Do you have an EMV strategy that includes implementation and testing to be sure the technology works? These are the questions to ask now as Visa Inc., MasterCard Worldwide and the other major card companies push the transition to the EMV standard in the United States. And for those seeking the answers, the EMV Academy may be the place to go.

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An online survey commissioned by coupon comparison website CouponCabin.com revealed that consumer opinion about prepaid cards is evenly split between love and hate. Of the 2,159 U.S. adults that took part in the survey conducted by Harris Interactive Inc. in May 2012, 44 percent revealed a negative opinion of the products while 43 percent were favorable to them.

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A bill introduced in the U.S. Senate in May 2012 would end nuisance lawsuits filed over some ATM operators' failure to comply with a federal requirement to display a fee notice on the cash dispensary machines. Sen. Michael Johanns, R-Neb., ranking member of the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Security, International Trade and Finance, introduced S.3204.

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On LinkedIn's corporate blog, LinkedIn Director Vincente Silveira confirmed that the social media site for business professionals suffered a June 6, 2012, breach and acknowledged "some" passwords were stolen. Silveira said LinkedIn is continuing to investigate the breach. In the meantime, the company is invalidating passwords it knows to be compromised.

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A survey of over 1,500 bank and credit union customers in the United States concluded that general purpose reloadable (GPR) prepaid cards are emerging as "lifestyle" financial tools. Research firm Market Rates Insight Inc. said 47 percent of survey respondents were likely to use GPR cards if they were offered by financial institutions – an indication that GPR cards are entering the financial mainstream, even among consumers who have bank accounts and use debit cards.

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It appears 2012 is the year of mobile payments. Following are highlights from the mobile realm this week. #h2QuickBooks offers mobile POS Intuit Inc.'s Intuit Payment Solutions introduced QuickBooks Point of Sale 2013. The POS product, launched June 5, 2012, integrates with Intuit's free mobile payment processing application system, GoPayment, to help small retailers accept credit cards anywhere using smart devices.

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On June 1, 2012, The Federal Reserve Board responded to plaintiffs' latest court filings in a November 2011 federal lawsuit brought against the board by a group of retailers headed by the National Retail Federation. Both the plaintiffs and the defendant had previously filed motions for summary judgment in the case. The NRF complaint claimed the board had exceeded its authority in its final regulations for enactment of the Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010. In its latest response, the Fed asserted that the Federal District Court for Washington should overrule retailers' objections and sanction the new debit interchange rates.

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London has the distinction of being the only city in the world that can claim an important milestone of its monarchy and the Summer Olympic Games in the same year. In commemoration of the dual landmark events, the city's mass transit authority, the Transport for London (TfL), is issuing commemorative prepaid Oyster transit cards.

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The PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) recently issued mobile payment security guidance and called for topic suggestions for its special interest groups (SIGs). Its two-page fact sheet, At a Glance: Mobile Payment Acceptance Security, was created by the council's Mobile Working Group with input from merchants, vendors and mobile payment organizations. The document was released to help merchants understand their Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS) responsibilities, benefit from the council's point-to-point encryption (P2PE) standard and choose a mobile payment solution that meets their needs. The fact sheet also has information on updates made to the council's PIN Transaction Security (PTS) Requirements.

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Payment processor First Data Corp. and SecurityMetrics Inc., a provider of Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standards (DSS) compliance, resolved a lawsuit that alleged SecurityMetrics unlawfully restricted First Data's access to its customer security and reporting data. The processor accused SecurityMetrics of withholding the data in an attempt to force First Data to halt the introduction of its own PCI DSS-compliance solution. The suit was filed May 21, 2012, in the U.S. District Court in Utah. SecurityMetrics was asked by The Green Sheet for comment on May 30, 2012, and replied by email the next day, stating, "SecurityMetrics and First Data have reached a mutual agreement to resolve the First Data Federal District Court filing on May 21, 2012."

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