Snippings

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We therefore need a method for editing a signed photo, so that a viewer who only has the edited photo can be assured that (i) the original unedited photo was properly signed, and was taken at the claimed time and location, and (ii) only permissible edits, such as cropping, resizing, and grayscale, were made to the signed photo. The security of the scheme should not require trusting the editing software.
To prove the provenance of edited photos, we use succinct zero-knowledge proofs.

From: Using ZK Proofs to Fight Disinformation | by Dan Boneh | Medium.

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The government says it intends to let people use debit cards to gamble on slot machines.
The move will allow pubs, casinos and slot venues to compete in an increasingly cashless society, ministers argue.
Gamblers will still be banned from using credit cards in the machines.
And there will also be a cap on how much they can spend in one gambling session, with staff alerted when limits are hit.
Systems that require payment authorisation, such as Apple Pay, will be allowed, but otherwise contactless payments will remain banned.

From: Slot machines to go cashless as debit cards allowed – BBC News.

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Tap to Everything will also support tap-to-authenticate, tap-to-provision a card, and tap-to-peer-to-peer (P2P) payments, which is a new use case that initiates a P2P payment by entering the receiver details and tapping their card against their phone to authenticate and initiate the transfer to any receiver regardless of whether they are a Visa accountholder.

From: Visa Recasts Digital Wallet Landscape with Identity and Payments.

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Nelsen says consumers can expect a smoother online shopping experience with Passkeys, with transactions processed without identity confirmation calls from their banks. Obtaining them will be straightforward through their issuer’s mobile banking apps. When prompted by their bank, consumers can create a passkey for easier online payments. A private key is generated and stored on the consumer’s device upon consent. This key then creates a digital signature for transactions, ensuring the bank can verify the user’s identity.

From: Visa Recasts Digital Wallet Landscape with Identity and Payments.

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Bahrain-based crypto exchange Rain fell victim to a $14.8 million exploit, according to blockchain sleuth ZachXBT.

From: Crypto Exchange Rain Hit by $14.8M Exploit: ZachXBT.

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Forrester were commissioned by Fabrick and Mastercard to survey European payment industry decision-makers about embedded finance. One of the key findings of Forrester’s report was that organisations need to make payments “an anchor for strategic ambition”. I rather like that phrase, because it’s how I see payments in an organisational context.

Don’t just add payment methods — adopt a payment strategy. Firms that have acquired capabilities just to offer customers as many payment methods as possible have quickly found themselves having to deal with barely controllable complexity and skyrocketing costs. Firms should use payments data, behavioral insights, and aggregated account data to segment customers based on their needs, create predictive models (e.g., credit default likelihood), and prioritize payment solutions that optimize across the entire lifecycle.

 

They also talk about

 

Wrap empathy around payments.

In times of economic turbulence, payers need understanding and support. Offering payment flexibility, allowing business and consumer “buy now, pay later,” micropayments instead of subscriptions, and faster payments enabled by click-to-pay links in exchange for repayment discounts are all ways to demonstrate commitment and empathy to the customer. Firms should offer these options to increase stickiness and enhance customer experience. 

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Australian Big Four bank NAB is partnering with Banked to launch Pay by Bank capabilities, leveraging Australian open banking rails PayTo to settle near-instant transactions.

Pay by Bank capability will enable merchants to avoid costly card surcharges by sending PayTo Agreements to their customers to initiate payments and refunds directly from their banking app. The roll out addresses a range of scenarios for merchants such as online payments, scheduled recurring payments with fixed or variable amounts, and split payments.

From: NAB to launch Pay by Bank for Australian merchants.

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From October, in what it describes as a “step-change” in fraud protection that will see the vast majority of money lost to APP frauds reimbursed to victims, the Payment Systems Regulator has set a £415,000 maximum reimbursement level.

Industry group the Payments Association has written to the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Bim Alami, to protest the cap, calling it “simply not proportionate,” according to Bloomberg.

Signed by around 30 firms, the letter argues for a cap of £30,000, which is in line with the average APP fraud loss. The letter also warns that the refund systems may not be ready by the October deadline.

From: UK payment firms push back on APP fraud refund plan.

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The bank had quickly spotted signs of potential fraud and blocked a number of transactions. They also warned James what was going on, at first by phone and then in an person at a meeting in a branch, but he still insisted on making the payments.

From: Pensioner victim of romance scam shock at £150,000 bank refund | The Independent.

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(Apple recently introduced the “Stolen Device Protection” feature that adds a layer of security when your iPhone is away from familiar locations such as your home or work. With this turned on, you may be required to wait for an hour before using your iPhone to make changes to critical security settings or your Apple ID. What’s more, if your iPhone is not in a familiar location, you must authenticate using Face ID or Touch ID, wait for the security delay to end, then authenticate with Face ID or Touch ID again to update security settings. Hopefully for most people an hour is plenty of time to get to another machine and log in to change your iCloud password.)