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Principles of Security

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Article 1

Article Name: The Massive Credit and Debit Card Security Overhaul in the US is Coming — Here Are the Costs and Opportunities

Date Published: 6th April 2014

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-massive-credit-and-debit-security-overhaul-in-the-us-is-coming--here-are-the-costs-and-benefits-2014-3

Name of author: John Heggestuen

Summary of the article

This article talks about massive target data breach that compromise the use or credit and debit cards. The article states that there should be an overhaul of payment cards so as to develop software’s to better improve security and safety of credit cards in the country and that there should be developments such as EMV; stands for Europay, MasterCard and Visa. EMVs’ are chips that are embedded on credit cards that will work as an embedded processor. Backed by a security software, they will reduce cases of identity theft as well as credit card fraud around the world. The system will also reduce credit card fraud when customers are conducting online transactions. The article says that such an initiative is costly to implement because security software has to be developed while at the same time, customers have to acquire new credit cards. Banks, merchants as well as fund processors have to also upgrade their credit card systems. The costs of implementing the new system total to $11 billion. The cost also includes the upgrade of software’s used in ATM machines. The development of secure software will thus improve the safety of funds of credit card holders.

My insight/comments/thoughts about the article

The article is insightful, as a credit card holder, I will no longer have to worry about my funds in my credit card getting stolen after the EMV system is fully installed. After the implementation of the system, credit card as well as identity thefts will decline. The system sounds costly to implement but there will be long term benefits to both credit card service providers as well as to banks.

Article 2

Article Name: Bulgarians Busted for Credit Card Fraud in USA

Date Published: 26th March 2014.

Source:http://www.novinite.com/articles/159250/Bulgarians+Busted+for+Credit+Card+Fraud+in+USA

Name of Author: http://www.novinite.com

Summary of the article

This article talks about how sixteen Bulgarians were arrested by the FBI for money laundering as well as credit card fraud. The FBI says that millions of dollars were stolen as well as transacted through financial systems fraudulently. The article says that the FBI has been tracking the group for the past 4 years. They were able to arrest them after they intercepted mobile phone calls that were made between members of the group. The article states that each members of the group could face up to 10 years in jail for each transaction made. The article also says that the group managed to steal sounds from credit cards by stealing credit card information from credit card holders and duplicating the information stolen into new cards.

My insight/comments/thoughts about the article

My thoughts about this article are that credit card security should be a priority to banks as well as financial institutions. Majority of funds are stolen from credit cards as a result of poor software as well as hardware technologies. Credit card companies should also introduce the EMV system which offers better security services as compared to normal credit cards, such as system will thus minimize credit card fraud as well as identity theft.