Money 20/20, CARTES Roundup: Data Security, Mobile Payments Innovations And More

While there’s been an overflow of Apple Pay chatter in the industry, the 7,500-plus attendees at Money 20/20 in Las Vegas and 20,000-plus attendees at CARTES SECURE CONNECTIONS event in Paris showed there’s plenty of interest from industry CEOS about other payment options, security and mobile innovations.

Topping of the list so far includes subjects like global payments platform, alternative currencies, E-commerce security, advanced authentication technology, mobile and tablet app transactions for Magstripe, EMV and NFC — just to brush the service of products discussed from the 2,500-plus companies spanning 60 countries that were at the Las Vegas event. CARTES also had its share of interest from an estimated 20,000 attendees coming from 140 countries, who joined together to review how digital society and security is evolving.

Looking first toward Verifone, which touched on two key industry topics: the structure of secure commerce and reducing merchant exposure to large-scale data breaches, and expediting accepting of EMV in the U.S. market. Verifone had a presence at both Money 20/20 and CARTES. Among its key announcements included the global availability of its secure commerce architecture, which the company said is designed to “reduce merchant exposure to large-scale data breaches, and reduce the certification burden on U.S. merchants, acquirers and other payment providers looking to enable EMV acceptance.”

As showcased at Money 20/20, Verifone’s secure commerce architecture decouples payment data from the merchant’s POS system and enables encrypted delivery of this data from the payment terminal directly to the merchant’s processor. This benefits merchants by removing the POS system from the scope of EMV certification, which Verifone said greatly reducing the burden for clients. It also prevents consumer payment data from entering the POS by transmitting it directly to the merchant’s payment processor, which takes away the risk of the data being stolen. This secure commerce architecture is now available to all of Verifone’s direct merchant customers and all merchant acquirers in the U.S. Merchants; Global availability will begin in 2015.

Other product details released at both events included Ingencio Mobile Solutions launch of its mPOS application, ROAMpay X5, the first and only native tablet application for both iOS and Android that supports all mobile payment transaction types and all acceptance methods: magstripe, NFC, EMV chip and PIN, and EMV chip and sign. This application will be also compatible with any Ingenico mPOS devices, including the iCMP.

“As the mPOS market matures, we are seeing a growing number of merchants moving to tablets for mPOS, but software designed for smartphones doesn’t always port well to a tablet,” said Scott Holt, Vice President of Marketing and Solutions for Ingenico Mobile Solutions said in the release about the product. “For this new version of our mPOS application, we addressed the growing audience of customers looking to use both iOS and Android tablets.

Looking toward card security, RushCard announced a contract with Enacomm to enhance cardholder security with advanced authentication technology. According to Monday’s (Nov. 3) release: “The prepaid pioneer will be implementing Enacomm’s next-generation, multi-factor authentication technology that utilizes voice biometrics and enables mobile knowledge-based authentication (KBA). Enacomm will also help RushCard enhance its customer service offerings with smart call routing, advanced analytics and by facilitating personalized interactions.”

“To protect their customers, RushCard will employ Enacomm’s eKBA, mobilized authentication of customers through state-of-the-art technology. This will include superior caller verification methods that rely on basic information, voice biometrics technology provided by Enacomm and will allow RushCard to protect cardholders by verifying customers based on the identity of their unique voice prints,” the release said.

Keeping aligned with the credit card data security theme, ControlScan announced the launch of its new education website aimed at helping SMBs properly secure sensitive customer data. “SMB Security Guide joins PCI Compliance Guide to create an ‘arsenal’ of ControlScan web properties that educate SMBs on unified security and compliance for data breach prevention,” according to a ControlScan release.

The global payments platform also took stage at Money 20/20 with announcements like Shift Payment connecting with i2c to “connect alternative currencies to traditional payments structure.” This move allow i2C, a global card processing company, to partner with Shift Payments’ debit card, allowing consumers to make payments in fiat, digital and alternative currencies.

Turning toward topics and products discussed at CARTES begins with a look into secure payment solutions, mobile payments readers, POS peripherals. ID TECH announced it would be releasing two product in 2015, that when used together produce “an ideal Chip and PIN solution.” According to DigitalJournal: “When integrated together the Spectrum Pro and SmartPIN L100 combine into an EMV Level 2 certified chip and PIN solution. For an all-in-one payment solution, the ViVOpay Kiosk III antenna can also be added to the chip and PIN solution to accept contactless payments.” The Spectrum Pro is an EMV smart card and MagStripe hybrid insert reader, whereas the SmartPIN L100 is a PCI certified modular PIN entry device aimed at implementing the “highest degree of PIN security.”

American Express was another big player at CARTES, who plans on presenting about its new online payment security services — American Express Token Services — that was announced Monday (Nov. 3). This product was explained in BroadwayWorld.com as being a safer online and mobile payments for consumers.

“With American Express Token Service, traditional card account numbers are replaced with unique ‘tokens,’ which can then be used to complete payment transactions online, in a mobile app or in-store with a mobile Near Field Communication (NFC)-enabled device,” the article said. “By using tokens, merchants and digital wallet operators will no longer need to store consumers’ sensitive payment account information in their systems. In addition, tokens can be assigned for use with a specific merchant, transaction type or payment device to provide further protection against fraud.”

Another company that announced new products at both events was VASC Data Security International — a global company in the authentication, electronic signatures, and identity management industry — that announced two new DIGIPASS authenticators with bluetooth capabilities. This included: “The DIGIPASS 875 is a smart card reader solution, and the DIGIPASS GO215 is a compact, one-button device offering powerful, portable and flexible two-factor authentication and digital signing. Both devices provide enhanced security for the growing number of mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets.”

“Bluetooth has evolved from a ‘nice-to-have’ to a ‘must-have’ capability for mobile and connected devices,” said Ryan Martin, Analyst, IoT & Wearable Technologies, 451 Research in the news release from VASCO. “The prevalence of Bluetooth Smart-enabled devices presents a greenfield opportunity to develop solutions for a wide range of industries and use cases around security, authentication and transaction-based applications.”