Recently, a possible security breach at one of the Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale (EFTPOS) Terminal of a merchant led major banks in Australia to cancel, block or restrict several MasterCard and Visa credit cards. Detection of suspicious transactions on credit card accounts by Commonwealth bank led to the latest action by banks. Skimming of customer credit cards is possibly the cause of suspicious transactions. Counter crime agencies are investigating the incident and Banks have not disclosed the identity of merchant and the acquiring bank. While Commonwealth Bank has cancelled credit cards of around 8,000 customers, Bendigo Bank has cancelled around 2300 credit cards. Westpac and St. George have also cancelled small number of credit cards.
Other Australian banks such as National Australia Bank (NAB), ANZ and BankSA are monitoring credit card transactions. According to the Australian Payments Clearing Association (APCA), Australians conduct over 10 million purchases at in-store terminals through debit and credit cards. Customers are vulnerable to credit card fraud, skimming and other forms of payment card frauds. In case of skimming, fraudsters extract information stored on the magnetic strip of the card. They may then use the extracted information to develop counterfeit credit cards. Fraudsters may use the fake cards for unauthorized transactions, and unauthorized withdrawals. They may also sell the collected information to their peers in the underground crime market.
Banking and financial institutions are one of the prime targets for cybercriminals. As such, they must have robust IT infrastructure in place to prevent security and data breach incidents. Professionals qualified in masters of security science, and security certifications may help banking organizations in understanding the security needs and implementing appropriate security procedures. IT professionals may leverage online university degree programs to meet their security training requirements.
Usually, banking organizations also avail services of third parties for marketing, Internet services and technical support. They also depend on the retailers for maximum use of plastic cards issued by them. Therefore, banking organizations must also ensure that third party service providers and merchants have appropriate security mechanisms in place to safeguard sensitive business and customer information. Banking and financial institutions, merchants, software and hardware manufacturers are required to comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS). Organizations failing to comply with the standards are subject to fines by MasterCard and Visa accordingly. Visa requires merchants to conduct quarterly network scan by an approved security vendor. They also need to send annual report on compliance by qualified security assessor, or annual self-assessment questionnaire based on the number of transactions processed. Banks must train employees on security measures and precautions to be adhered while dealing with sensitive customer information. Online degree programs, IT training and e-learning programs may help employees in gaining understanding of security fundamentals.
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EC-Council
Website: http://www.eccuni.us
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 505-341-3228
EC-Council University is based in Albuquerque, New Mexico and offers Master of Security Science (MSS) degree to students from various backgrounds such as graduates, IT Professionals, and military students amongst several others. The MSS is offered as a 100% online degree program and allows EC-Council University to reach students from not only the United States, but from all around the world.
EC-Council is a member-based organization that certifies individuals in cybersecurity and e-commerce skills. It is the owner and developer of 16 security certifications, including Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), Computer Hacking Forensics Investigator (CHFI) and EC-Council Certified Security Analyst (ECSA)/License Penetration Tester (LPT). Its certificate programs are offered in over 60 countries around the world.
EC-Council has trained over 80,000 individuals and certified more than 30,000 members, through more than 450 training partners globally. These certifications are recognized worldwide and have received endorsements from various government agencies including the U.S. federal government via the Montgomery GI Bill, Department of Defense via DoD 8570.01-M, National Security Agency (NSA) and the Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS). EC-Council also operates the global series of Hacker Halted security conferences.
