visas

Global Payments, a third-party payments processor at the center of a Visa and MasterCard security breach, reiterated Monday morning that while customer data may be at risk, the data breach has been "contained to the best of our ability."

Overall, 1.5 million accounts may have been affected.

Global Payments CEO Paul Garcia said that the "diligent work" may take some time, but it will complete the ongoing investigation and identify any changes that need to be implemented.

Garcia said the company will get its record of compliance back with Visa and MasterCard "as soon … Read more

As many as 1.5 million Visa and MasterCard accounts may have been compromised by the recent Global Payments security breach, the payment processor announced this evening.

Credit card numbers may have been exported, but no customer names, addresses, or Social Security numbers were accessed, the company said in a statement. The company believes the breach, which was revealed Friday, was confined to North America.

The nature of the breach, which was originally pegged at 50,000 accounts, has not been revealed. The company also did not say whether it knew of any fraudulent charges resulting from the breach on … Read more

A Visa network update briefly prevented some customers in the United States from using their credit and debit cards to pay for purchases today.

A company representative told the Associated Press that the outage was caused by a recent system update, but that the system was now operating normally. The 40-minute outage began at 11:40 a.m. PT, an unidentified banking industry source told the AP.

A Visa customer told CNET that he tried to use his credit card to pay for a fill-up at a Boston-area gas station around 12:30 p.m. PT but couldn't complete … Read more

BARCELONA, Spain--Intel has unveiled a number of new partnerships and chips as the company, which is dominant in the PC business, attempts to find the same success with mobile devices.

Intel said today it is working with ZTE, Lava International, and Orange on handsets, and with Visa on a multiyear partnership to build a mobile-payment service together. It also unveiled a trio of new Atom chips to fill out its mobile-centric product portfolio.

"We're not a stranger to the mobile market," CEO Paul Otellini said during a press conference at the Mobile World Congress trade show. He … Read more

A few companies pay money to bug hunters. But Facebook is giving out something more unique than just a check. Some security researchers are getting a customized "White Hat Bug Bounty Program" Visa debit card.

The researchers, who can make thousands of dollars for reporting just one security hole on the social-networking site, can use the card to make purchases, just like a credit card, or create a PIN and take money out of an ATM. As the researchers find more bugs, Facebook can add more money to their accounts.

Facebook wanted to do something special for the … Read more

Shopkick, a mobile check-in and rewards app, and Visa are hoping consumers are in a holiday-shopping mood.

The two companies announced a partnership today to offer a faster way for consumers to earn "kicks"--Shopkick's version of rewards--which can be redeemed for gift cards, gadgets, and other goodies. Shopkick works when a user walks into a retail partner: enter the store and get your kicks. With the new offer, users get additional kicks when they purchase their goods using a linked Visa credit or debit card.

Shopkick gets a major partner in Visa and offers its customers … Read more

Visa has officially launched its new brand for its digital wallet, called V.me, as the credit card company also works to court app developers to help further is mobile payment platform.

Early next year, Visa will start marketing its digital wallet as V.me, a brand that is differentiated from its Visa credit card brand. The new digital wallet, which works a lot like PayPal by allowing users to link the wallet to other forms of payment like an existing credit card, will make it easier for customers to make online purchases, especially from their mobile phones.

Instead of … Read more

American Express plans to dabble in mobile payments and other forms of digital commerce at an arm's length, preferring to throw cash at startups rather than launch its own major initiatives.

The company said today that it will invest $100 million in startups that are designed to address mobile and online payments, security, reward and loyalty programs, and other forms of digital commerce.

This represents American Express's primary stab at the booming digital-commerce business, a potentially lucrative area that has a large number of players all vying for position. American Express's low-key approach stands in contrast to … Read more

All the purchases you make with your MasterCard or Visa could be used to provide you with more-targeted ads as you surf the Web, a new report claims.

According to today's Wall Street Journal, the credit card companies are currently trying to work out a system whereby purchases consumers make in a brick-and-mortar store can be used to deliver more effective ads online.

A MasterCard document obtained by the Journal outlines some of the company's plans, which included linking Web users with purchases. According to document, the credit card provider said it believes "you are what you … Read more