Visa Inc. wants to put mobile payments on the road. Literally. MasterCard Worldwide, meanwhile, has taken a page from the 20th century comic Dick Tracy in heralding a partnership to enable contactless payments using select luxury brand watches. Both card companies were at the Mobile World Congress the week of Feb. 22, 2016, in Barcelona, Spain, where MasterCard also revealed details of a pilot of accountholder authentication using biometrics.

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Selfies may soon be as an authentication option for Samsung smartphone users. On Feb. 16, 2016, Samsung SDS and Morpho S.A.S., a division of French biometrics and security firm Safran S.A., disclosed plans to integrate Morpho's facial recognition into Samsung's core technology. Samsung currently uses fingerprint biometrics; facial recognition will complement its suite of Fast Identity Online (FIDO) methods, the companies stated.

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The Smart Card Alliance and Heartland Payment Systems Inc. unveiled the National Center for Advanced Payments and Identity Security on Feb. 3, 2016. The permanent facility, located in Arlington, Va. near Washington, D.C., will continue the work of the Smart Card Alliance Educational Institute. Established through a grant from Heartland and managed by the SCA, the center will host a diversified curriculum of security education, training and certification, the companies stated. Over the years, the SCA has provided educational resources and programs designed to inform industry stakeholders of the latest developments in secure smart card technology. The not-for-profit, multi-industry association created the Certified Smart Card Industry Professional (CSCIP) credential, which is the smart card industry's principal certification program.

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Declining stock market prices and economic uncertainties are having little impact on consumer spending, according to new reports from Kiplinger and the National Retail Federation. The organizations, respectively, view the retail sector outlook for 2016 as somewhat below or on par with 2015 results. And the National Small Business Association reported increased confidence in the future among its members despite indications that economic insecurity is a top concern.

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Chicago-based Trustwave confirmed rising levels of job-related stress in the data security trade. The company's third annual 2016 Security Pressures Report, published Feb. 10, 2016, is based on a survey of 1,414 in-house information security professionals in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and Singapore. The report compiled three consecutive years of aggregated data, offering strategies for mitigating battle fatigue related to fighting cyber criminals. The survey was conducted by email between November and December 2015, with a 3 percent margin of error, the company stated.

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President Barack Obama laid out a new, improved plan for shoring up the nation's cybersecurity defenses. The plan, which includes a 30 percent increase in federal budget allocations for cybersecurity initiatives in fiscal year 2017, which begins Oct.1, 2016, has been applauded by banking groups. Separately, the White House made clear the President will veto any legislation passed by Congress limiting Operation Choke Point, a controversial Justice Department program that seeks to disrupt financial flows that support criminal enterprises.

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News of a multimillion dollar heist of Delray, Fla.-based Cryptsy, a cryptocurrency exchange established in 2013, stunned the digital currency community. More than 270,000 registered users were affected by the theft, which was initially disclosed Jan. 15, 2016. Many who traded in bitcoin and LiteCoin lost considerable sums. The attack caught Cryptsy senior managers by surprise, according to the company's blog post. "[We] just didn't know what happened, didn't want to cause panic, and were unsure who exactly we should be contacting," the company posted. Cryptsy subsequently opened an investigation, shutting down all trades and deposits until more facts become known.

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Landry's Inc., a Houston-based hospitality firm, disclosed Jan. 29, 2016, that security data breaches may have affected "a small percentage" of its properties doing business as Golden Nugget Casino and Hotel and Landry's Restaurant. The company indicated that preliminary reports point to payment card processing malware detected in POS devices located "at certain of our restaurants, food and beverage outlets, spas, entertainment destinations, and managed properties." The malicious code, engineered to steal track data from mag stripe payment cards, had been active between May 2014 and March 2015 and between May and December 2015, the company stated.

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Dunkin' Donuts, Shake Shack, Uber and other leading retailers recently joined a Visa Inc. initiative aimed at cross-promoting retail and hospitality brands to consumers. Visa Commerce Network, an interactive platform launched Jan. 29, 2016, enables merchants within Visa's electronic payment network to create online and in-app shopping experiences. Participating retail and hospitality brands can create joint promotions on the fly, according to Visa representatives. Participating merchants can use VisaNet's library of commerce application programming interfaces (APIs) to connect transactions between two different Visa merchants. Qualifying purchases are identified at the POS and rewards are sent to Visa cardholder accounts, eliminating the need for consumers to carry coupons or reward cards.

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What do you get when you pair a company steeped in check printing with one that dominates the mobile imaging market? A new check that practically eliminates the possibility of fraud and accidental duplicate deposits when mobile deposit is used. Photo Safe Check is a paper check product Harland Clarke, a business unit of Harland Clarke Holdings Corp., began delivering in January 2016. It incorporates security features that can only be read using mobile deposit software from Mitek Systems Inc.

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Numerous consumers who used credit cards at Midwest and Northeast locations of The Wendy's Company in the latter part of 2015 were notified by their card issuing banks of a potential data security breach. Wendy's, a publicly traded company established in 1969 and headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, is the world's third largest fast food enterprise, with 6,500 corporate and franchise locations in 30 countries. Company spokesman Bob Bertini advised news media that fraudulent charges began to appear elsewhere after the cards were legitimately used at some Wendy's restaurants. "Until this investigation is completed, it is difficult to determine with certainty the nature or scope of any potential incident," he said.

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