User Emails Lost Before Launch of CurrentC
Emails were sent out last week to an undisclosed number of beta testers for CurrentC, the MCX alternative to Apple Pay (but also any company using NFC technology like Google Wallet), advising that unauthorized third parties had obtained their email addresses. The news came days after MCX retailers pulled in-store support for other third party payment systems. Not a huge breach, to be sure, but neither a great first branding step for a group that seeks to position itself as …
Target’s Black Friday season security mishap put a harsh spotlight on consequences of less that stone-clad data security. It also demonstrated the comparative ease with which hackers can gain access to consumer data. The attack was made possible due to a malicious software which infected Target’s point-of-sale systems, resulting in the theft of customers’ names, phone numbers, email addresses, and mailing addresses in addition to their credit and debit card numbers. The Method of Attack With data security a hot 
In the e-commerce world, there are three common types of fraud: First Party Fraud Third Party Fraud Seller Fraud First Party Fraud This is when the customer is legitimately trying to scam you. In e-commerce this might be: Claiming a product wasn’t delivered Reading a book and requesting a refund Claiming they didn’t make the charge on the credit card What makes this difficult to combat is that it may be seasonal; recession time sees an increase in first party 
Most websites use the combination of usernames and passwords. Both are items that a user knows. Asking “what street did I grow up on”, is just asking more things that a user knows, firms that do this are just implementing more KBA’s. Economics of Authentication To use some basic economics, the addition of the password as opposed to not requiring validation has a huge marginal benefit to the company. Implementing a second, and third and forth has an ever decreasing 
Risk-based authentication process applies varying levels of strictness to the authentication process based on the probability that a given application can be compromised. The authentication process becomes restrictive and casts a wider net based on the increase in risk. Understanding the Types of Authentication Authentication methods are usually grouped into a few different factors. 1. Ownership Factors Bank cards, security tokens, mobile phone. Physical objects which a user is required to be in possession of. The risks to these types