Information Protection and Security

Online criminals are making millions of pounds by convincing computer users to download fake anti-virus software, internet security experts claim.

PCI Virtualization Special Interest Group (SIG) is drafting guidelines and a mapping tool for applying PCI to virtualized systems.
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IDG News Service - A Sacramento, Calif., man has pleaded guilty to charges for his role in an international scam that netted sensitive information on tens of thousands of Internet users and then used that data to open fraudulent Wal-Mart credit cards.

Mass compromise of merchant networks and card processors is viewed as the main cause of payment-card fraud, according to a survey of 113 financial services firms, which was published Tuesday.
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The PCI standard, long touted as one of the private sector's strongest attempts to regulate itself on IT security, is increasingly being slammed by critics who claim that the rules aren't doing enough to protect credit and debit card data.

The use of credit cards to pay for goods and services is a common practice around the world.   It enables business to be transacted in a convenient and cost effective manner.   However, more than 100 million personally-identifiable, customer records have been breached in the US over the past two years [1] . Many of these breaches involved credit card information.   Continued use of credits cards requires confidence by consumers that their transaction and credit card information are secure. The following provides information as to how the credit card industry has responded to security issues and steps you can take to protect your information.