A library of snippets
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The cryptocurrency fintech startup Prime Trust lost the encryption key to its hardware wallet—and the recovery key—and therefore $38.9 million. It is now in bankruptcy.
I can’t understand why anyone thinks these technologies are a good idea.
From: Cryptocurrency Startup Loses Encryption Key for Electronic Wallet – Schneier on Security.
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This gripping tale unfolded when a 36-year-old married woman, hailing from an affluent family, mysteriously vanished from city’s Humayunnagar on June 29, 2018. She evaded detection by meticulously erasing all traces of her digital and personal identity, including her religious affiliation. She even married another man and altered her physical appearance while embarking on a new life working with an NGO in Maharashtra.
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One intriguing attempt to do so is Project Liberty, a $100mn not-for-profit initiative backed by the philanthropist Frank McCourt, which has released an open-source protocol allowing developers to build privacy-preserving apps and services.
From: Clean data must be as much of a right as clean water | Financial Times.
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From privacy notices that are never read to data-sharing practices that are never explained to patchy regulations that are rarely enforced, our data economy is a wicked mess. We do not expect to read a water company’s terms and conditions before we turn on a tap. Why should it be different with data? We can, and must, clean up the digital economy.
From: Clean data must be as much of a right as clean water | Financial Times.
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Some drivers and employees may be startled to discover what lies buried deep within the 9,500-word privacy notice of Nissan North America listing all the personal data the car company might collect. The categories extend to “race, national origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation, sexual activity, precise geolocation, health diagnosis data, and genetic information”.
Nissan says it might also draw inferences about psychological trends, behaviours, attitudes and intelligence. And it might share anonymised data with unspecified third-party service providers as well as using it for its own marketing and operational purposes.
From: Clean data must be as much of a right as clean water | Financial Times.
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Some drivers and employees may be startled to discover what lies buried deep within the 9,500-word privacy notice of Nissan North America listing all the personal data the car company might collect. The categories extend to “race, national origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation, sexual activity, precise geolocation, health diagnosis data, and genetic information”.
From: Clean data must be as much of a right as clean water | Financial Times.
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Other key findings from the report:
Non-cash transaction volume globally will reach almost 1.3 trillion by 2023, a nearly 16.6% year-over-year growth rate. By 2027, noncash transaction volumes are expected to reach about 2.3 trillion, doubling since 2022.
Respondents stated that nearly 80% of traditional payment revenue sources (fee, fund, and float income) are stressed.
Globally, the overall value of commercial payment transactions surpasses that of retail payments – 56% versus 44% of total transaction value.
As businesses struggle to access a 360-degree view of their cash, 79% of corporate treasurers complain about lengthy cash conversion cycles. Despite having multiple banking relationships, 70% of corporate treasurers say banks’ cash management services are underwhelming.* Data referred to in the World Payments Report 2023 comes from two key surveys carried out by Capgemini; the Global Large Businesses Survey 2023 and the Global Banking and Payments Executive Surveys and Interviews 2023. These surveys cover insights from 17 markets across the globe.
From: Why cash management dominates Capgemini’s World Payments Report.
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In a curious case that had investigators racking their brains for half a decade, Telangana’s women safety wing and anti-human trafficking unit have cracked the mystery of a woman who disappeared, erased her digital footprint and embarked on a new life under a completely different identity.
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Falsely declined payments caused merchants in the UK, US, Germany and France to lose out on $50.7 billion in revenue last year, up from $20 billion in 2019 – an increase of 140%.
The research by Checkout.com found that US businesses lose 2.1% of global revenues annually due to poor payments performance.
The global payments provider published the findings in a whitepaper, titled ‘High-Performance Payments: The hidden billion-dollar opportunity’, supported by research from Oxford Economics.
It defined false declines as “where a legitimate transaction is mistakenly identified as fraud and rejected” and revealed that, following a single false declined payment 45% of consumers say they would not retry a payment.
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While misuse of account information is still the leading type of fraudulent activity, each FI lost nearly half a million dollars on average related to scams alone in 2023.
Using the Federal Reserve’s Fraud Classifier Model, data shows that rates of unauthorized fraud surpass authorized fraud for all financial institutions, with 61% of fraudulent transactions coming from unauthorized party fraud — the type of fraud that occurs when external actors take over or compromise credentials to commit fraud. The misuse of account information — consisting of digital payment fraud and physical forgery — remains the leading source of fraud, with each FI losing an average of $1.4 million to the strategy in the last year.From: IRS Boosts Safeguards on Tax Credit to Prevent PPP-Like Fraud.
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