RESOURCES
Mobile Payments: How Consumers Get the ISIS Wallet
Markiyan Malko
December 7, 2012
With every new technology comes a wave of early adopters. You know the people; these are the ones who are the first to buy a new gadget or those willing to wait in line overnight for the latest Apple® product release, regardless of whether or not they need it. And, there is a group for every technology, including those who have been waiting patiently for the release of the ISIS mobile wallet. After originally announcing the joint venture in November 2010 (ISIS is a joint venture of AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon), ISIS was officially launched in two U.S. markets in October. Currently, those wanting to use the ISIS mobile wallet regularly are inherently limited to the launch cities, which are Salt Lake City, Utah and Austin, Texas. If a consumer is in those markets, the process is fairly...
Inside Apple® Passbook®
Markiyan Malko
October 2, 2012
While many anticipated the launch of iOS6, available for the vast majority of the company’s iPhone®, iPad®, and iPod touch® models, to coincide with the announcement of NFC in the new iPhone, Apple turned heads with no NFC and no entry into mobile payments. The launch of Apple’s new iOS6, home to Passbook, however did mark the company’s entry point into the digital wallet space. What is Passbook? Leveraging existing mobile platform features, including geolocation services, Passbook serves as a convenient single-location digital wallet for travel and entertainment tickets, coupons, and loyalty and gift cards, and automatically offers ‘top of presence’ accessibility based on time and physical location. Positioned as a convenience tool for consumers, Passbook presents enormous value to...
Inside PCI Compliance – What You Need to Know
Markiyan Malko
September 12, 2012
The compliance standards for the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, or PCI DSS, are a set of rules that any merchant, bank, financial institution or any other entity that transmits, processes or stores sensitive cardholder data must follow. PCI DSS compliance standards apply to all debit and credit card transactions, including point-of-sale transactions and eCommerce transactions. Prepaid cards bearing the logo of one of the major credit card brands are also considered payment cards. Any business or individual who wants to accept payment cards must comply with PCI security standards, regardless of how few transactions are processed. The Payment Card Industry Standards Council is the organization responsible for defining PCI DSS. The council is not an agency of the...
We're happy to teach competitors, like PayJunction, the difference between PCI and PA-DSS
Markiyan Malko
June 8, 2011
An interesting email came across my desk this morning from one of our good partners that is being targeted by a company called PayJunction. It is always interesting to read an email from a competitor of ours that is misinformed about PCI and PA-DSS or elects to mislead customers. Lets start with: "I understand you currently integrate with Merchant Warehouse, however, we can offer something they can not. We have a solution that will allow you to retain integrated credit card processing... while totally taking you out of the scope of PCI." Couple issues with this statement. First, Merchant Warehouse has had this type of solution for two years, it's called MerchantWARE Transport. Not only did we have it first, we have three different options to accommodate our partners whether they are...
Google Wallet is here! Do we care?
Markiyan Malko
May 27, 2011
When you want to look up a restaurant or dry cleaner in your area most people just “Google” it. Well, if all goes according to what we’re hearing, you may be able to pay for your dinner and freshly pressed trousers by just “Googling” them as well. Google announced Google Wallet yesterday with great fanfare. The Google Wallet will use the Android smartphones that have NFC technology built in. This new ‘wallet’ will let customers store multiple payment and gift cards as well as participate in Google Offers, which will drive targeted coupons and ads to customers based on their transaction history. Both New York and San Francisco will trial the Google Wallet this summer with more cities slated to follow and an anticipated launch date of September 1 later this year. We think...
Gold, silver or bronze for Salt Lake City ISIS trial?
Markiyan Malko
April 14, 2011
“And the ISIS trial city for mobile payments is awarded to (drum roll, please)….Salt Lake City.”This isn’t the first time Salt Lake City has been the centerpiece of extravagant proportions. The 2002 Winter Olympics were held there nine years ago (that was a Yogi Berra-ism, for anyone playing along).This time around, however, the city will be more heavily scrutinized, as ISIS, a joint venture of three U.S. wireless carriers, has chosen it to test mobile wallet technology. This technology, if successful, could become the de facto way consumers pay for everything from their morning joe to their high-def television.Simply put, in the future you will have a chip in your smartphone that when waved in front of a reader will allow you to pay for merchandise.How simple is...
What's next for payments?
Markiyan Malko
April 13, 2011
Recently I attended the Alternative Payment Systems Innovations Summit in hopes of finding what the next big thing in payments was and came away with more questions than answers. Heading into the summit, all I heard for the past couple months was about NFC and how it will absolutely revolutionize the payments landscape and, not surprisingly, it was talked about a good amount.Although there was some positive talk about NFC (mainly by solution providers who have NFC solutions), the rest of the exhibitors and attendees were lukewarm on the concept. Mainly, the big box retailers like Wal-Mart, 7-Eleven and Macy’s were all very reserved on NFC if it’s main value and function is payments. Contrary to popular belief, swiping a credit card on a terminal is really not that...
Hello TransPort.Mobile | Goodbye PA-DSS
Markiyan Malko
March 22, 2011
We are proud to announce a new product offering today that helps merchants and POS developers who utilize mobile solutions become PCI compliant and avoid PA-DSS headaches.TransPort.Mobile is a hosted payment page specifically designed for mobile displays that offloads the card processing functionality from mobile applications and Websites and keeps them out of scope for PA-DSS.There is a huge need for a security solution for mobile applications as at this time the PCI SSC is refusing to PA-DSS validate mobile applications due to security concerns. You can read their official position on mobile solutions here.Who needs TransPort.Mobile?Mobile application developers that need to accept credit card payments in their application.POS developers that need to extend the functionality of...
Top Ten Common Myths of PCI DSS
Markiyan Malko
March 16, 2011
Although PCI has been around for a few years now many merchants still are not familiar enough with it and are intimidated by the validation process. It's important to remember that there are companies and service providers out there that can help with the process for a minimal fee which is much lower than any fines and fees that the merchant would be responsible for if they were breached. Validation and ongoing compliance are important business requirements and expenses for any successful business that accepts credit card payments.For all those not familiar with the PCI DSS and as a refresher for those that are, here are the top ten myths taken from the official PCI SSC site.Myth 1 – One vendor and product will make us compliantMany vendors offer an array of software and services for...
Like gas, the price of a data breach is rising
Markiyan Malko
March 11, 2011
Depending on where you live in the United States, gas is reaching the $4 or $5 a gallon mark. That’s peanuts compared to the price of a data breach for a U.S. company. The cost associated with a data breach is now $7.2 million on average per organization that suffers a breach, according to a research report by the Ponemon Institute.According to the report, the cost of a data breach in 2010 is up 7% over 2009, when the cost to a U.S. company was $6.8 million. Every year since 2006, the cost has increased.The findings state those companies who rapidly responded to a breach suffered more financially, while those who responded more slowly didn’t get hit as hard. Those companies who responded quickly to an incident paid on average $268 per record, compared to $174 per record for...