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"Three steps to take to protect your account data from getting into the wrong hands Whether by choice or necessity, American consumers are increasingly relying on debit rather than credit cards. Debit card spending has risen steadily, growing from 47.7 percent of purchases made with plastic in 2003 to 58.9 percent in 2008 and it is expected to surpass 67 percent by 2013, according to the Nilson Report, a newsletter that tracks the consumer payment industry. When you use a debit card, the money is immediately taken from your checking account. While using debit guarantees that you pay as you go, these cards have downsides, including a growing appeal to thieves. "As economic conditions have worsened, there's been a noticeable increase in all types of card fraud," says Avivah Litan, an analyst specializing in fraud detection and prevention at Gartner Research in Stamford, Conn. "But ATM and debit-card fraud is the top area of concern we're hearing about from banks all over the world." More from ConsumerReports.org: * Pros and Cons of Debit Cards * Credit Card Perks * Post-Recession Investing Unlike credit-card thieves, who usually charge merchandise and then resell it to come up with money, people who create counterfeit ATM or debit cards by stealing your PIN and other account data can simply pull cold cash from your bank account. Using a technique known as skimming, they set up equipment that captures magnetic stripe and keypad information when you input your PIN at ATM machines, gas pumps, restaurants, or retailers. Here's how you can protect yourself: Don't Type in Your Pin at the Pump Be especially vigilant at gas stations, Litan says. "Gas pumps are notorious for skimming because they're produced by only a couple of different manufacturers, and if someone gets the key to one from a disgruntled employee, they can insert a skimming device inside the pump where it can't be seen," she says. She recommends using a credit card rather than a debit card whe

"BERLIN - Millions of German bank cards have been affected by a "millennium bug"-like problem because they contain software that can't process the number 2010, industry groups said Tuesday. The DSGV group, which represents public-sector banks, said some 20 million debit cards issued by those banks were affected, along with around 3.5 million credit cards - nearly half of the total number of cards issued by those banks. The group said cash machines were adjusted hours after the problem emerged to ensure that customers could withdraw money, but there may still be problems using some debit-card terminals. Those should be fixed by Monday, it said. Problems remain with credit cards and customers should use debit cards instead for now, added the group. The BVR group of cooperative banks said about 4 million debit cards issued by its members - about 15 percent of the total - also were afflicted by the faulty software, although there were no problems withdrawing cash. Its credit cards were unaffected. Another 2.5 million cards issued by German private banks were affected. The problem stemmed from a chip on the cards which, due to a programming fault, wouldn't correctly process the number 2010. Computer experts widely believed that hardware and software systems would fail as the clocks rolled over to the year 2000. The problem, they said, would be caused when computers and other devices, which used only two digits to represent the year, mistook the year 2000 for the year 1900. In the end, however, the so-called "millennium bug" caused few problems."

"*To announce tenure limit of bank MDs, minimum disclosure requirements soon To strengthen credit control and forestall the recurrence of non-performing loans in banks, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that very soon those without the national identity card may not be able to access bank loans. It added that in a few weeks time it will release a new minimum disclosure requirement for banks and tenure limit for managing directors and chief executive officers. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, CBN governor made the declaration at the launch and public forum of CRC Credit Bureau Limited. Experts have hailed the move, saying it has always been easy for people to forge any other identity card, noting that it will be difficult to forge the national identity card. Sanusi said "the CBN will liaison with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) with a view to enhancing the National Identity Card project", and that "whenever the National Identity scheme takes off we will ensure that no new credit is extended to anybody unless the person has a national identity card". Sanusi at the forum warned existing managing directors of banks to start thinking of an exit and succession plan before the imposition of the tenure limit. "

"California's only remaining A-level credit grade from a major rating firm is in greater danger as the state's budget woes deepen yet again. Standard & Poor's on Wednesday cut its rating on California's $64 billion in general-obligation debt to A-minus from A and warned that the outlook was "negative," meaning another reduction could loom. S&P cited new concerns about the state's finances, including a possible cash shortage "if the state's revenue and spending trajectories continue." Scrambling to close a $20-billion budget gap, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed a number of one-time fixes - including having the federal government contribute nearly $7 billion in new aid. Yet the state's chief budget analyst believes the odds of getting that much help from the U.S. are "almost nonexistent.""

"WASHINGTON -- President Obama, determined to show he understands middle-class struggles, is offering new initiatives meant to help people pay bills and save for retirement. Obama was ready to announce the new steps Monday in a partial preview of his State of the Union address. The proposals to be unveiled by Obama and Vice President Joe Biden at the White House include a doubling of the child care tax credit for families earning under $85,000; a $1.6 billion increase in federal funding for child care programs and a program to cap student loan payments at 10 percent of income above "a basic living allowance." His initiatives also include expanding tax credits to match retirement savings and increasing aid for families taking care of elderly relatives. That program would also require all employers to provide the option of a workplace-based retirement savings plan. Obama is seeking to offer some attractive options to taxpayers, mindful of recent setbacks including the loss of a traditionally Democratic Senate seat in Massachusetts to Republican Scott Brown. Monday's rollout is designed to show sympathy with a frustrated public. "We are fighting every single day to put Americans back to work," Obama said in a statement released by the White House. The proposals are the result of the work of a middle class task force that Biden had headed. The White House says the proposals are aimed at the "sandwich generation" -- Americans struggling to care for both their children and their parents. The proposals fit into the economic message of his prime-time address to the nation on Wednesday, one that is likely to cover financial regulations, energy, education, immigration and a push to change the political tone in Washington. White House advisers see Wednesday's State of the Union speech as a key opportunity for Obama to recalibrate his message to better connect with the public and to reset his presidency after stinging setbacks. Obama has promised a sharper focus o

"PositiveID (PSID) is to begin a study of its Health Link implantable microchip in diabetic, hypertensive and obese patients. The study -like everything else associated with the company formerly known as VeriChip - is bound to be controversial. The Health Link chip is implanted under a patient's skin. It can be scanned to access the patient's online medical records. The company's critics fear the chip will one day become mandatory, leading to a complete loss of medical privacy, or that Americans will be unable to receive healthcare unless they get chipped. BNET has noted that PositiveID also owns a credit monitoring and identity-theft prevention company, Steel Vault, and that it envisions its chips being linked to Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT) and employers. PositiveID linked credit monitoring and the Health Link chip in its most recent 10-Q. While PositiveID's press release gives few specifics, it indicates that the study will have something to do with the Health Link chip and customers of HealthScreenDirect, a company that offers screening for diabetes and high cholesterol. Its says the study will be: … a prospective, randomized, comparative clinical study that will seek to address improving disease management through the use of appropriate, concise, and up-to-date patient health information available to both practitioners caring for diabetic, hypertensive and obese patients and the patients themselves through the utilization of PositiveID's personal health record (Health Link) and an electronic medical records system. PositiveID CEO Scott R. Silverman said in the statement that the study will also advance the company's in-development glucose-sensing chip. Silverman is doubtless hoping that patients with the chip - and with their health records online - will have better outcomes in terms of managing their diabetes than those doing it the old-fashioned way. The unanswered question is why health record access - or even a microchip

MONSTER MACHINES APR 19, 2013 11:07 PM 14,548 47 Share GET OUR TOP STORIES FOLLOW GIZMODO The Tech That Helped Take Down Marathon Bombing Suspect Dzhokar Tsarnaev Casey Chan and Brian Barrett The second suspect in the brutal Boston Marathon bombings has been apprehended, after five days of uncertainty and fear. And while all credit for Dzhokar Tsarnaev's capture goes to the men and women of the many, many agencies that spent the last week tracking him down, technology played as prominent a role as it ever has in a time of national crisis. A Smartphone Immediately after the Boston Marathon bomb exploded, David Green pulled out his smartphone and snapped a shot of the aftermath, smoke and all-around chaos. He then put his phone away and started helping victims. Taking a picture of what you see in front of you-whether it be a disaster, a beautiful view, a plate of food-has become as instinctual as just plain seeing. What Green didn't know, and what the world was soon going to find out, was that Green's picture eventually became the clearest image of 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, aka Suspect #2. In the high-resolution image, you can see Tsarnaev calmly walk away from the explosion in his unmistakable white baseball cap. On top of that, the smartphone pic captured Tsarnaev without the backpack he was spotted carrying earlier on surveillance cameras. The backpack that reportedly held the bomb.

"The present national identity card system is outdated, and does not create interconnectivity and has many security issues. Therefore, the Government is planning to introduce an electronic smart card system to replace it from this year, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said. "This new smart card system will create connectivity," the Defence Secretary said at the Tech Colloquium Conference on the theme 'The Role of IT in Nation Building' in Colombo on Monday. He said with the introduction of the new smart card system it could be used as an identity card as well as a multi-purpose card for other purposes. This will enable to prevent any security problems like duplication. This will be an advantage for security concerns to do their investigation and surveillance activities without any hazard, he said. Rajapaksa said developed countries use more advanced surveillance systems than Sri Lanka by using new technology and without using physical presence such as Police and Army personnel. Therefore, this can create some inconvenience to the public to a larger extent, he said. The Defence Secretary said developed countries used advanced security and surveillance systems than Sri Lanka without heavy police and military presence. Therefore electronic surveillance systems are linked to control rooms and these control rooms could dispatch security and military personnel to the relevant position. He said they are now in the process of introducing ICT and new technology for surveillance systems like in developed countries. ICT could also bring an economic revival after defeating three decades of ethnic crisis and achieving true victory, he said. "However, Sri Lanka is still not being developed to that level as we are heavily depending on physical systems, which inconvenience the public. The use of high and advanced technology and IT have brought a lot of achievements during the recent past and it almost did a revolutionary change in the war theater to suppress t

"Cashless society benefits merchants and consumers, says Visa VP By Lauren Lindberg [Merchant and consumer benefits to electronic payment processing may be accelerating the shift to a cashless society] 13/01/2010 - The world is increasingly moving toward a cashless society, driven both by consumer demand and merchant preferences, a Visa official told the UK newspaper The Telegraph. Steve Perry, executive vice president of Visa Europe, told the newspaper that society is becoming increasingly cashless because consumers have found that electronic payment processing is easier than carrying around cash, and are consequently shifting from paper to plastic payment methods. In addition, debit and credit card processing is better for merchants because it costs less than handling cash, he said. "Because cards are less risky (the associated cost is estimated at 0.02 percent to 0.1 percent per transaction on cards compared with 0.1 percent to 0.2 percent with cash) and encourage spending, they are more efficient and better value," Perry told the newspaper. "Furthermore, card transaction fees are expected to fall.""

"The State Department is planning to welcome thousands of immigrants from terror-watch list countries into the United States this year through a "diversity visa" lottery -- a giant legal loophole some lawmakers say is a "serious national security threat" that has gone unchecked for years. Ostensibly designed to increase ethnic diversity among immigrants, the program invites in thousands of poorly educated laborers with few job skills -- and that's only the beginning of its problems, according to lawmakers and government investigations. "There are a lot of holes in this program in terms of security and in terms of fraud," said Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., who has written legislation aimed at killing the lottery. Now, in the wake of the botched Christmas Day terror attack that emerged from Nigeria and Yemen, members of Congress are worried the system could be vulnerable to radicals looking to "play" the visa lottery as a means of reaching the U.S. Here's how it works: to avoid getting stuck with 3.5 million others on a visa waiting list, hundreds of thousands of people put their names into the separate diversity lottery, which rewards countries that typically see low levels of immigration to the U.S. Immediate family are allowed to join lottery winners. Countries like China, where lots of immigrants originate, are excluded. Then a computer in Kentucky picks names at random from the qualified applicants, who need only a high school degree or two years at a job that requires two years of experience. The program accounts for about 10 percent of all immigrant visas each year. Included in the lottery are all four countries the U.S considers state sponsors of terror -- Iran, Sudan, Cuba, and Syria -- and 13 of the 14 nations that are coming under special monitoring from the Transportation Security Administration as founts of terrorism. Pakistan is excluded because, like China, it sends over tens of thousands of immigrants each year and doesn't need to be in the lottery