Rippleshot Blog

For the second year in a row, Verizon has taken its comprehensive Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) and converted key findings into a more easily accessible Data Breach Digest. Verizon's research is especially valuable due to the high volume of data the company is privy to. As one of the largest U.S. telecommunication corporations, its network infrastructure allows the company to draw on data from more than 82 countries and 67 contributors.

Home Depot is still feeling the effects of the fallout from its 2014 data breach. As a reminder, the breach affected more than 50 million cardholders who used payment cards on its self-checkout terminals in U.S. and Canadian stores between April and September 2014. The cyber thief posed as a vendor, using the vendor's username and password to access both payment card data and customer email addresses.

In one of the first scientific studies analyzing the international market for stolen data, Michigan State University criminologist Thomas Holt found that a batch of 50 stolen credit or debit cards can make a seller between $250,000 and $1 million on average. While those earnings certainly aren't small potatoes, they pale in comparison to what buyers can net from the illegal data itself: From that same batch of 50 cards, a buyer can swindle card companies and cardholders out of approximately $2 million if only 25 percent of the cards work — and nearly $8 million if all cards work.

According to a biannual analysis released by Experian, e-commerce fraud is on the rise. The company attributed the 30 percent increase in attacks to the United States' transition to more secure EMV chip cards late 2015. Even though at first glance that may seem counterintuitive, their hypothesis makes perfect sense. Here's why.

As recently as 2009, prepaid debit cards were widely considered an undesirable fee-ridden option primarily used by the underbanked. Flash forward to present day, and they're making a surprising comeback. As of 2015,  a full quarter of Americans reported having used a reloadable prepaid debit card. And according to a white paper published by TMG, that same year prepaid debit cards accounted for $23.8 billion of the total $341 billion in online sales.

The U.S. Payments Forum announced in its 2017 Winter Market Snapshot that there has been steady progress in the U.S. migration to chip payments, with 9 out of 10 Americans commonly using chip cards at the approximately one-third of U.S. merchant locations enabled to accept chip payments. "Steady progress" is one way to look at it. Another way is that the deadline for POS terminals to become EMV compliant was October 1, 2015 — well over a year ago — and the findings tell us only one-third of merchant locations have made the switch so far.

So what's slowing them down and how can it be fixed? Let's take a look.

The future of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has been under the spotlight lately as Congress and lawmakers put plans in place to potentially close the consumer watchdog agency.

Let’s back up... while we're sure most banks and credit unions are familiar with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), many others aren't - and they're not alone. In a survey by CreditCards.com, 81% of consumers polled did not know what it is,  which is a problem considering that the CFPB’s sole purpose is to protect consumers.

Did you know that 64% – that’s right, a majority – of Americans have been directly affected by a data breach? Not surprisingly, those experiences have led a growing number of Americans to lose faith in the strength of the cybersecurity protocols major corporations and government agencies currently have in place. It has not, however, led many Americans to incorporate cybersecurity best practices into their own digital day-to-day.

In a recent post, we looked at who is primarily at fault when it comes to a data breach – customers or financial institutions? As we found out, the majority of respondents reported they think the responsibility of protecting and securing customer data lies with the companies – not themselves.

If consumers are blaming organizations for breaches, what are the repercussions for financial institutions? A new report by Carnegie Mellon looks at the correlation between the impact of a fraud incident and customer loyalty and what is at stake when it comes to a data breach.

The New Normal

You walk into a grocery store, pick up the few things you’re missing for tonight’s dinner and head to checkout. The cashier rings up your groceries and you reach for your wallet…will you take out a debit card, a credit card or cold, hard cash?

If you’re like a growing number of Americans, you probably find yourself reaching for that debit card more and more often.

Last week, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the approval regarding the settlement class in a consumer class action arising from Target Corporation’s 2013 data breach.

By definition, “instant payments” refers to guaranteed year-round payment processing where transactions are processed in a matter of seconds. For banks, implementing an instant payment system has become a top priority in order to meet customers’ expectations, increase convenience, and to keep up with emerging financial technology platforms. Modern customers increasingly want financial services that can keep up with the quick pace of their life.

Company also announces addition of payments industry veteran Gloria Colgan to its Advisory Board

CHICAGO, February 8, 2017 - Rippleshot, a Chicago-based fraud analytics firm, today announced it has raised $2.6 million in its latest round of funding. KDWC, a Chicago-based venture capital firm led the group of notable investors, including CMFG Ventures, the venture capital entity of CUNA Mutual Group.

The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) and CyberScout issued a new report stating that the number of U.S. data breaches reached an all-time high last year, totaling 1,093. This is a 40% increase from 2015 – quite a substantial increase indicating that rising concerns around cybercrime isn’t just hype, it’s a growing epidemic across not only the U.S but also across the globe.

Cybersecurity is clearly a hot topic of discussion as cyberattacks grow in scale and continue to impact all industries. While it is safe to say that most individuals, financial institutions, business organizations, etc., are all hyperaware of the growing online security threats, a new report from Gemalto indicates that consumers hold organizations - not themselves - chiefly accountable for protecting their personal data, and thus are primarily at fault when it comes to data breaches.