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The article reports on the partnership formed by digital identity enterprise software provider Cambridge Blockchain with computer consultant company LuxTrust to develop a digital solution that will allow businesses and consumers to store and exchange information. Topics include the benefits of the product for financial institutions, the key feature of the product, and services being offered by LuxTrust such as identity authentication and signature and document management.

The article examines the ticket selling process used for the October 2016 New York Comic Con, a convention for fans of films, video games, and television, that required identification verification. It details how event organizer ReedPop required fans seeking tickets online to provide credentials such as phone numbers, addresses, and credit cared information. Similarities to digital identification methods used by banks is discussed.

The article examines concerns over the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) credit-reporting system outlined in its payday lending plan. It covers questions over where the necessary credit data would be drawn from as well as who would collect and report the data submitted to payday lenders.

The article examines the role of the banking industry in helping individuals manage their digital identities and how their personal information is shared. Particular attention is given to concerns over privacy and cybersecurity especially in cases requiring passwords that can be susceptible to phishing, online banking fraud, and security breaches.

The article looks at how Visa U.S.A. says it has made significant progress getting merchants to stop storing payment card data that can be used to make counterfeit cards. In a survey, the San Francisco card association found that several of its largest merchant users were storing all the information from the magnetic stripes on customers' cards, which violates industry rules. Comments from Michael E. Smith, Visa's senior vice president of enterprise risk and compliance, are presented.

This article reports that Internet bill payments have long been considered a great customer retention tool because entering payee data is so tedious, but Yodlee Inc. has developed a product that may eliminate that factor. The aggregation software vendor is expected to announce Bill Pay Account Accelerator, which automatically moves payee data from one bank's online banking site to another's.

This article discusses the data security debate in the financial services industry, which is moving in opposite directions in the United States Senate and House. Since personal information identifying 26 million veterans and military personnel was stolen, lawmakers have been under pressure to move data security legislation quickly. Leaders of the House are thought to be weighing a deal that would hand the power to enforce protection over to the state attorney general.

Discusses the issue of surveillance over independent sales organizations regarding the security of people's credit card number and other personal information in the U.S. Analysts' opinion on the issue; Role of regulators in the surveillance; Need for banks and payment authorizers to be responsible.

The article discusses the relevance of knowledge-based authentication in the financial services industry amid criticisms that "knowledge" asked are already easily obtainable through social media. Topics discussed include the need to amend the knowledge-based authentication process as well as ways to make the authentication process more truthful. Also mentioned are technologies being adopted/developed as a replacement for the authentication.

This article discusses the plan of the European Union (EU) to implement a General Data Protection Regulation starting 2016. Topics covered include the aim of the proposed regulation to protect an individual's privacy rights, the need for U.S. multinational banks serving EU residents to prepare for such regulation, and the regulation's provisions, including one imposing strong obligations on firms to obtain explicit consent from individuals prior to processing their personal information.

The article gives information about Citigroup bank's settlement with the Justice Department's U.S. Trustee Program division and litigation related to the release of 150,000 consumers' personal and bankruptcy information. The article notes Citigroup admitted the court records it put on the Pacer (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) were not redacted properly and blames this error on its computer software.

The article reports on Barclays, a British banking company that might begin selling its customers information, according to Finextra financial technology blog. The article notes Barclays will scrub the personal information before it is sold so customers cannot be identified by the buyer. It also notes Barclays plans to use customer transaction information to analyze its services.

The article looks at a security breach of Alliance Data Systems Corp.'s electronic mail message marketing unit, Epsilon, focusing on other financial services companies' reassessments of the value of personally identifiable information. The author considers various ways in which computer hackers may target bank employees with social engineering schemes in order to gain access to bank databases.

The article reports on call centers in Great Britain. Veritape Ltd. surveyed 133 call centers in Great Britain and found that only 3% of call center managers reported compliance with rules which prohibit the call centers from storing information containing credit and or debit card information. Veritape found that 61% of participants surveyed were not aware there were such regulations.

The article reports on phishing in the U.S. Phishing are scams where counterfeit materials are sent to gain personal information from victims. The chat windows banks use through their Web sites in order to provide immediate customer service have been taken over by phishers according to RSA Security. With this scam the phisher sets up a fraudulent Web site that operates as a man-in-the-middle between the consumer and the bank and intercepts personal information.

The article discusses an audit by Canada's privacy commissioner on mortgage brokers. The investigation was started due to concerns that borrowers' financial information may not have been protected. Specific areas that the investigation is focusing on is mentioned, as are complaints that have been received that people's personal information may have been seen by the wrong people.

The author reports on difficulties that are occurring for U.S. residents when the foreign social security numbers of people in Asia are being reported to U.S. credit bureaus. Problems are occurring because sometimes the numbers match social security numbers of U.S. residents. U.S. residents who are most likely to be impacted by this are mentioned.

The author reports that a flash drive containing the information of 5500 people was lost by an employee of the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission. The author states that the employee lost the flash drive after he took it to a conference in Dallas, Texas. The reason why the information was stored on a flash drive is mentioned.

The article discusses Visa Inc. Visa Inc. has removed Heartland Payment Systems Inc. and Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC's RBS WorldPay from its list of processors due to information breaches. Visa's merchants were notified of the removals but may continue routing transactions through the companies.

The article presents news briefs relating to the exposure of personal information. Thousands of customers at Comcast Corp. had their usernames and passwords published online. The financial information of more than 4000 financial supporters of the re-election campaign of U.S. Senator Norm Coleman was posted online.

The article reports on Heartland Payment Systems Inc. There are 8 banks and credit unions which have created 3 lawsuits against Heartland due to a data breach which was disclosed in January 2009. The financial institutions want compensation for having to reissue cards and for the cost of fraud on accounts that were compromised.

The article discusses various ways in which scammers are tricking people into giving them their personal information. Warnings that have been released by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding the way scammers are using bank failures to trick people into giving them their personal information are discussed.

The article reports that computer hardware containing data on 9,000 students and alumni from Tennessee State University has been lost. The hardware, which contained financial histories and Social Security numbers of students dating back to 2002, was downloaded to a storage device by a financial aid counselor prior to being reported missing.

The article reports on fraud prevention through the use of common data. Information related to a banking customer is a vital component of preventing bank fraud as it allows financial services institutions to analyze legitimate banking activity for that specific customer. With the customer's behavior analyzed banks will be able to identify fraudulent behavior more accurately.

The article reports that a computer bought through the online auction site eBay Inc. contained the personal information of a minimum of one million Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC customers. The information included customers' names, signatures and bank account numbers and was owned by Graphics Data, a data-archiving firm, prior to being auctioned through eBay.

The article reports on an explanation of benefits letter sent to the wrong people by health insurance company Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia. The company states that computer system error resulted in the mistaken correspondence. Social security numbers and health information were included in the letters.

The article reports on an investigation into the theft of personal information at mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp. An employee of the company is being investigated by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for stealing Social Security numbers and other information from applicants. Other topics in the article include identity theft, credit monitoring, and reselling data.

The article reports on computer backup tapes lost by the Bank of New York Mellon Corp. The tapes were being transported on an Archival Systems Inc. truck in February 2008 and contained the personal data of 4.5 million people. Connecticut officials like Attorney General Richard Blumenthal are involved as customers of People's United Bank in Connecticut have been affected.

The article presents news briefs regarding security in the financial services industry. A tape containing information regarding thousands of credit card holders has been lost by the company GE Money. A computer containing the personal information of more than 300,000 people which was stolen from Davidson County, Tennessee has been recovered.

The author reflects on the impact of the loss of personal information of 25 million people in Great Britain by the country's Department of Revenue. People's reaction to the news that personal information was lost is mentioned. The author feels that banks in the United States should take action to prevent similar problems from occurring in the U.S.

The article reports on the settlement between Visa Inc. and TJX Cos. Inc. for $40.9 million. Visa will use this money to cover costs from a breach leading to data loss from 2005. The announcement came after a settlement between TJX Cos. and six banks and state bank associations suing for losses not to sue TJX or its aqcuirer Fifth Third Bancorp.

The article reports on a breach of information security at Commerce Bancorp Inc., which confirmed an employee released some customer information to an outside party. The company said it has contacted state and federal law enforcement and is offering a year of free credit monitoring to customers most at risk.

The author reports on various incidents where companies misplaced customers' personal information. A maintenance worker found 40 boxes of loan files of customers at AmeriQuest Mortgage Co. A laptop was lost at Home Depot Inc. which contained personal information of thousands of employees. The Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance lost a disk containing information from loan applicants.

The article reports that the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. regulators are finalizing regulations on how banks may share credit data with affiliates. These rules are related to the implementation of the U.S. Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003. The rules would require banks and creditors to develop systems to identify when customers' identities are at risk of being stolen.

The author reports on Mortgagebot LLC which allows people to shop for mortgages online without entering any personal information. People can enter a query with only the amount of money they would like to borrow, the home's value and the zip code where the home is located. Mortgagebot provides customers with mortgage quotes from dozens of lenders. A description of how other lending websites are run is given.

The article presents news briefs regarding various incidents where people's information was tampered with or exposed. A hacker by the name of Vladuz turned off the accounts of several eBay users. The Massachusetts Division of Professional Licensure mistakenly mailed out the social security numbers of more than 400,000 people. A laptop computer was stolen from a teaching assistant at the University of Iowa in September 2007, exposing the personal information of 184 students.

The article provides updates to U.S. banking news stories reported on in previous issues. A breach within TJX Cos. Inc. put the data of 45 million customers at risk. A tape stolen from the car of an Ohio bank intern was found to contain personal information from over 900 residents of Minnesota's Ramsey County as well after the firm Accenture Ltd. had designed the payroll system for Ramsey County.

A pair of news briefs related to exposures of personal information over the Internet is presented. Todd Davis, the chief executive of identity theft protection company LifeLock Inc., had his identity stolen after he posted his Social Security number online to prove the effectiveness of his company's services. The Social Security number of former professional football star Troy Aikman was found in public documents online.

This article examines the privacy notice that the US Congress requested financial institutions produce in order to notify consumers about their information sharing policies. The authors note that the form they devised has flaws that should be addressed. They suggest changing the form to allow for greater flexibility in identifying what practices institutions apply, adding that the current form is likely to confuse consumers. They also suggest that a group of experts examine the form as well.

This article presents two news briefs related to online security. The first brief discusses how ChoicePoint Inc. has reached a settlement with 43 states and the Washington D.C. over their sale of personal information. The second brief discusses how Ohio University will no longer place students' social security numbers on their identification cards. Five of the university's servers had been hacked in 2006.

This article reports on security breaches in the financial services industry. A computer disk with information on employees at Alcatel-Lucent is missing. The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation says a server breach exposed the personal information of as many as 300,000 people including realtors, mortgage brokers, pawnshop owners and loan originators in Illinois.

The article discusses documents with sensitive personal information allegedly left by Radio Shack Corp. employees in a trash-bin near a Corpus Christi, Texas store. Charges have been filed with the Texas Attorney General's Office and Attorney General Greg Abbot has said that the actions put Radio Shack in violation of several state statutes. The documents contained Social Security numbers, credit and debit card numbers, and customer names, addresses, and phone numbers.

The article discusses an article published by CRN Australia online, documenting how security breaches in businesses actually help technology vendors. The more breaches that occur, the more retail vendors realize they need to comply with the Payments Card Industry (PCI) security standard's and give technology vendors more business. The article also highlights business growth in the market, like Fishnet Security Inc., whose PCI business grew 733 percent in 2006.

The article discusses a security breach of TJX Cos. Inc.'s customer data where almost 46 million credit and debit account numbers were stolen. According to the company's 10-K filing, some of the data was stolen before it was encrypted. The company also believes the intruder had access to the decryption tool used by TJX.

The article discusses an announcement by TJX Cos. documenting the extent of a computer breach in which credit and debit account numbers were stolen. According to TJX, at least 45.7 million account numbers were stolen, but at least 75 percent of the cards have expired or had additional security information that was not acquired. The initial thefts took place from July 2005 to December 2006, but the data was from sales that took place in 2003 and 2004.

The article presents financial security related news briefs. The "Morning Sentinel" of Waterville, Maine, published an article and picture of lottery winner Venison Turner Jr. that included the winning ticket number, his address, birth date, and social security number. Wellpoint Inc., of Indianapolis, Illinois, has been much faster in reporting the discovery of a missing CD with personal data than it was in reporting the CD missing.

This article reports on the U.S. House Financial Services financial institutions subcommittee which has scheduled a hearing on proposed restrictions to an international Internet domain name database. Bankers fear the restrictions could make it harder to protect consumers from scams. The ruling would put restrictions on bankers who access the registry to look up bank fraud companies that are posing as banks to acquire private information from consumers on the Internet.

This article discusses the cost of identity theft. The Department of Veteran's Affairs has already spent more than $14 million just to notify the millions of veterans and soldiers whose personal data was lost when an employee's house was burglarized in May 2006. The department is requesting millions more from Congress to pay for credit report monitoring services for the affected people.

This article discusses identity thefts that do not involve banks. Elias Fishburn was jailed for a month because a fugitive used his name as an alias and Fishburn was not given a chance to prove otherwise. Two former Ohio University students are seeking class-action status for a lawsuit against the university stemming from a series of computer breaches that exposed personal data, including Social Security numbers.

This article looks at the Government Accountability Office (GAO) which is holding itself accountable for a small data breach. The agency archived data from travel vouchers dating from the 1970s on its Web site, and included names, addresses and Social Security numbers for several people. David M. Walker, the comptroller general of the U.S. and head of the GAO said in a statement that the records that needed to be pulled were of little public interest.