Financial Information

Subscribe to Financial Information via RSS

A recent bombshell lawsuit by The Home Depot alleges patterns of antitrust violations, illegal collusion, and anti-competitive conduct by the Visa and MasterCard credit card networks. The suit arises in a climate in which the networks are increasingly under attack by retailers, and in which The Home Depot is embroiled in extensive litigation stemming from a massive 2014 breach of customer data.  Finally, for consumers concerned with payment card security, the suit highlights potential weaknesses in some U.S. payment card technologies – particularly when compared to systems widely used overseas.

The Home Depot’s Lawsuit and Allegations

On Monday June 13, 2016, The Home Depot filed a 138-page complaint against Visa and MasterCard alleging the credit card behemoths engaged in collusion and price fixing to delay implementation of effective chip-and-PIN security technology in payment cards in the United States. As alleged in the Complaint, the use of Personal Identification Number (“PIN”) verification along with “EMV” chips (“chip-and-PIN”) has been used widely used in Europe since the mid-1990s “to make credit and debit card transactions safer and less prone to fraud.”

Continue Reading Home Depot Alleges Visa, MasterCard Colluded To Delay Chip-and-PIN Implementation; Exposed Retailers, Consumers to Data Breach Risks

Last week, social media giant Facebook announced an expansion of its online advertising business to include serving ads to users who are not members of Facebook. Under a press posting titled “Bringing People Better Ads,” Facebook decried ads that are “annoying, distracting or misleading” and talked about its efforts to do better.  This move highlights again the sometimes contentious topic of Internet ads and ad-blocking technology. Internet advertising and the technological and social aspects of ad-blocking have important consequences for user privacy and data security, both for individuals and for enterprises.

In the press information posted on its news site, Facebook talked about some of the issues raised by “bad” advertising. Much of the discussion of ads and ad-blocking has focused on user inconvenience and consumer ethics. On the one hand, Internet advertising slows the retrieval of requested content, utilizes megabytes of expensive bandwidth, drains power-thirsty mobile batteries, and annoys users with unexpected sound and video. On the other hand, some ask whether it is right to block ads but still consume ad-supported content when, as Facebook noted, “apps rely on advertising to pay the bills.”

The ad-blocking debate also has an “us” versus “them” element, as Internet companies dependent on advertising revenue are pitted against those that profit from device sales. Indeed, the expansion of ad-blocking to some mobile platforms last year was seen by some as a competitive step by smartphone providers aimed at search and social network companies.
Continue Reading Social Media’s Expanding Distribution of Internet Advertising Impacts Privacy and Security

On May 9, 2016, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, the European Banking Federation, and the Global Financial Markets Association (comprised of three other industry associations, including the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association) published a set of common principles to promote effective global policymaking on cybersecurity, data and technology (the Principles). These industry groups…

*******************************************************

Oxford English Dictionary:  ‘dork,’ informal, A dull, slow-witted or socially inept person.

Wikipedia: ‘Google Dorking,’ a computer hacking technique that uses Google Search and other Google applications to find security holes in the configuration and computer code that websites use.

*******************************************************

A nerd. A dork. A geek. You’ve seen them. You…

On March 2, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed the first consent order (Order) addressing data privacy since the CFPB’s inception in 2010. The Order serves as a warning to all companies that collect, store and use sensitive customer information that misrepresentation of security practices, as well as noncompliant data protection procedures, will…

As companies continue to explore new outsourcing and cloud services models in search of improved cost and productivity efficiencies, service providers are being asked to handle increasingly sensitive types of data. However, some customers are not seeking heightened security measures from their vendors to safeguard this sensitive data.

A recent study by Gemalto regarding The…

Technology DisputesOn January 11, 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced the 2016 examination priorities list. For the third year in a row, cybersecurity is a top concern, especially with regard to internal security program assessment and evaluation.  This year the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) will focus on cybersecurity protocols implemented by financial…

In late 2015, Congress passed the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act − a vehicle for an amendment to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) meant to eliminate the need for certain companies to provide annual privacy disclosures to consumers.

The amendment, which took effect immediately, eliminates the annual notice requirement for financial institutions that:

  1. do not share

…

In 2015, a number of high-profile media and political events and several legal cases raised questions about personal data protection in the European Union. 2016 looks to be a pivotal year for reforms in personal data protection, including issues related to recent matters.

The following developments are anticipated:

  • The General Data Protection Regulation will form

…

It reads like a movie script: First, the financial services industry experiences a bout of firm-specific attacks in the form of distributed denial of service (DDoS), domain name system (DNS) poisoning, or breach of personally identifiable information (PII).   One day later, trade order processing at major exchanges and alternative trading systems (ATS) is disrupted.  On…