For more info on a specific newsletter, click the title. Details will be displayed in a new window.
Subscribe to
Computerworld 40 years of the most authoritative source of news and information for IT leaders.
American Express offers disposable credit card numbers for online shopping
or
Other Security Stories
|
|
|
|
September 07, 2000 (Computerworld) -- American Express Co. today announced plans to launch a new service under which holders of its credit cards who are worried about the security of buying goods online will be able to obtain single-use credit card numbers.
The free service, called Private Payments, is scheduled to become available within a month to consumers and small businesses that have American Express cards. As part of the Private Payments announcement, American Express also announced a deal with San Jose-based Privada Inc. under which the two companies plan to develop "private browsing" technology that's supposed to let Internet users specify how much of their personal information is shared when they visit Web sites.
Both moves are aimed at easing concerns about transacting business online, according to American Express officials.
"Consumers have a real fear that their credit card information can be stolen when they're shopping on the Internet," said Alfred Kelly Jr., group president of the New York-based company's U.S. Consumer and Small Business Services unit. "This fear is an obstacle, as we see it, to a real boom in e-commerce."
As part of the Private Payments service, Kelly said, customers who go to a secure portion of the American Express Web site will receive a unique random credit card number that they can then use when buying items from online merchants. "It's used for one purchase and will expire after the purchase is complete," he said.
Some European banks already offer similar services, but American Express appears to be the first company to do so in the U.S. Neither Visa International Inc. in Foster City, Calif., nor MasterCard International Inc. in Purchase, N.Y., have made similar announcements, and neither company responded by publication time to requests for comment on whether they have such services in the works.
Worries about the potential theft of credit card numbers, and the inconvenience of getting new ones if that happens, might be enough to prompt consumers to take the extra step of asking American Express for a disposable number when they're going to shop online, said Frank Prince, an analyst at Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research Inc.
"Provided that you trust American Express, it materially reduces the risk that a stored credit card could be used to in some way damage you," Prince said. Consumers who have just started using the Internet are the most concerned about security issues, he added. "As people get more used to the Internet, their privacy concerns are assuaged," he said. "But there are always more new people."
As part of its deal with Privada, American Express is making a minority investment in the developer of digital privacy infrastructure technology. The promised private browsing technology is due later this year and will let users choose from settings that range from sharing their full identity on the Internet to remaining completely anonymous, Kelly said.
Related stories:
- Wireless insecurity, Sept. 4, 2000
- Survey: retail fraud more prevalent for online vendors, July 24, 2000
- Visa program to fight online fraud debuts, July 24, 2000
- British utility mistakenly shows credit-card data on Web, July 19, 2000
- E-mail hoax panics Canadian credit-card customers, June 9, 2000
|
Print this Story |
|
Send Us Feedback |
|
E-mail this Story |
|
Digg this Story |
|
Slashdot this Story |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
All Zones Application Performance Zone Business Continuity Zone Data Center Management Zone Enterprise-Class Security Zone The File Data Management Zone Grid Computing on Windows Zone Security Management Zone ITIL Best Practices Zone The SAS Zone Storage Virtualization Zone Business Intelligence and Analytics Zone |
 See your link here
|
 |
||||||||
| ||||||||
| ||||||||
| ||||||||
|
Why SaaS is Vital to Email and Web Security
Download this Executive Bulletin (a $49.95 value) for free, compliments of MessageLabs.
Get this white paper now!
Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services.
- Microsoft promises four patches next week
- Google gives away home-cooked Web application security scanner
- Storm botnet stages Fourth of July attacks
- More top stories
Security Management ZoneSecurity management is the process of developing a comprehensive data protection plan. It takes into account all potential threats, the existing network environment, the future needs of the organization, and lays out a multi-tiered blueprint to integrate the security technology needed to combat these threats. CDW can help keep your network and data secure. Visit the CDW Security Management Zone now See All Zones
|
 Fired up about IT? Join Sharkbait and share your true tales of IT. SharkBait is the place for you to sound off about everything IT – the good, the bad, and the rest of the weird stuff you deal with every day.New baits 
|
"Security Directions" virtual trade show2008's Code-Red Security Issues for Protecting the EnterpriseWebcasts, white papers, demos, and more. Presented in a unique 3-d environment. Enter our show right now! Click here to enter
|
 In SecuritySecurity's important, and risk must be addressed, right? Sure, but watch for four signs your policies go a bit overboard. Click here to read the latest column by Jon Espenschied |
CIO
Computerworld
CSO
DEMO
GamePro
Games.net
IDG Connect
IDG World Expo
Infoworld
The Industry Standard
ITworld
JavaWorld
LinuxWorld
MacUser
Macworld
Network World
PC World
Playlist
Copyright © 2008 Computerworld Inc. All
rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium
without express written permission of Computerworld Inc. is prohibited.
Computerworld and Computerworld.com and the respective logos are
trademarks of International Data Group Inc.
|
