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IndustryUpdate

data protection law putting any on “non-essential” items in the last six months (including vacations and holi-
ecommerce business at a major risk, day shopping); 40 percent are spending less on summer vacations, including
authorities noted. “Now more than 49 percent who are reducing travel expenses; 38 percent expect to spend less
ever, small and midsize companies at Christmas this year, while 32 percent are planning to spend the same as
need to own their data,” said Mikel usual, researchers found.
Lindsaar, StoreConnect CEO.
FPC reports on faster payments, financial inclusion
“Everything they collect from their
customers should end up in their The U.S. Faster Payments Council, a membership organization devoted to
own store and database, making advancing safe, easy-to-use faster payments in the United States, published
them compliant with GDPR.” a new white paper, Faster Payments and Financial Inclusion. Sponsored by
PSCU, the FPC Financial Inclusion Work Group developed the paper, which
Infosec Institute offers free identifies eight barriers to the use of faster payments for families and small
educational resources businesses that face shortages of time and cash. The new report also offers
a blueprint of steps payments providers, banks and networks can take to
Infosec Institute, a cybersecurity alleviate these pain points to increase financial inclusion in the use of faster
education provider, now offers free payments. Some recommended steps include strong, omnichannel customer
cyber education resources to help service, product design that is fully grounded in the financial life of the
organizations and employees level underserved consumer or small business, and prevention and remedies for
up their cybersecurity in prepa- fraud and mistake.
ration for National Cybersecurity
Awareness Month and beyond. PARTNERSHIPS
Hosted every October by the
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure
Security Agency and the National Astra, Visa speed new account funding
Cyber Security Alliance, the month- Astra, a provider of instant card-to-card funding as a service in the United
long event aims to raise awareness States, reported it is using Visa Direct, Visa’s real-time payments service, to
about cybersecurity and provide
resources for online security.

In support, Infosec is providing a
security toolkit featuring a train-
ing module for employees of all
levels; employee assessment to help
identify security awareness train-
ing needs; four posters, newslet-
ter and email templates focused on
key security behaviors; NCSAM-
themed screensaver to educate
learners on data breaches; and pre-
sentation about the program and
targeted behaviors.

RESEARCH

Study predicts holiday
spending decline
A study released by Digital River
revealed how rising costs and infla-
tion have impacted U.S. consumer
habits. The new research, conduct-
ed by Opinium, explains how U.S.
consumers’ finances and general
spending have changed over the
past six months due to the current
socioeconomic landscape. Sixty-
seven percent of consumers sur-
veyed have reduced their spending

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