Website functionality for the major bank, Chase (JP Morgan Chase), is down. http://money.cnn.com/2010/09/14/technology/Chase_online_service/index.htm?source=cnn_bin&hpt=Sbin This goes to show how even the biggest companies, like the $2-trillion-in-assets Chase bank, can have compromised websites that crash. While no information has been provided as to the crash, our own speculation would be a major security breach.  A simple crash of functionality would otherwise have been quickly fixed by a new server or re-upload of prior working code. Chase has blocked out all ability to log in, which may ...

This chilling article reveals just how easy it is to predict a 9 digit Social Security number, and ways to help protect yourself. http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Banking/FinancialPrivacy/social-security-number-code-cracked.aspx

http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/22/pf/credit_card_rules/index.htm?hpt=T2

As a simple intro to the industry, this little Wiki article does a great job of explaining the basics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchant_account

Top 50 Riskiest Cities for Web Surfing list released, Seattle WA at the top. http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/03/22/cybercrime-small-town-problem/

Bank of America has been raising its rates on many consumers' credit cards. BOA has raised the rates on one lawyer's credit card, up to an astounding 28%. The lawyer is now suing BOA. http://us.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2010/01/07/hln.roberts.credit.card.revolt.cnn

Amazon, Walmart, & Expedia were all hacked just days after the multi-million dollar hack at Citibank. While the breech was contained within about an hour, it reflects just how vulnerable even the biggest e-commerce sites really are. More info about the incident available on CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/12/24/cnet.ddos.attack/index.html This brings the question: How safe is a mom-and-pop e-commerce site for credit card processing? The answer can be quite safe, if it is coded properly. Here are some good rules of thumb to go by... 1) Those sites that ...

Critical News Alert: CitiBank has just been hacked, resulting in tens of millions of dollars stolen. You may read more details at FoxNews: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/12/22/fbi-probes-hacks-citibank-govt-agency/ PCI Compliance laws couldn't come soon enough, however they do not mean a merchant's site will have 100% protection from the elements. We strongly caution merchants with this bit of truth: If a hacker wants into your site, they will get into your site. Earlier this year hackers were able to tap into the Whitehouse, Pentagon, and even the ...

Yes, it is true. A credit card with an APR of 79.9% has been issued by First Premier Bank. This has been done as a move to hedge against the new federal laws restricting annual fees; to compensate, this high-risk credit issuer had to raise the APR to 79.9%.  The card has a $300 credit line and is intended for those who have bad credit to start making good credit again. Card holders used to pay $256 up-front for the card as a ...

This important alert shares how to make a Magento Shopping Cart FACTA Compliant, with web coding provided: http://creatuity.com/blog/2009/03/02/default-magento-template-not-facta-compliant/ What is FACTA Compliance? FACTA Compliance is a U.S. law passed in 2003, that says Merchants can not print the expiration date of a credit card on a receipt.  It is a positive effort to help deter credit card fraud. How is a 2003 Law Having Such Impact Today? Many e-shopping carts are programmed by Germans (German's make good engineers!).  The shopping carts are also geared towards ...