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ATM EMERGENCY – ONE WEEK OF SUPPORT LEFT FOR WINDOWS XP: With one week left until Microsoft pulls support for Windows XP, the operating system used by a reported 95% of ATMs worldwide, upgrade costs and security concerns are mounting for financial service firms.
Though consumers will likely notice little change at first, Microsoft will no longer issue XP security patches or updates as of April 8th, making machines running it attractive targets for hackers.
Retail credit card processors will be among those affected, John Berkeley of Mercury Payment Systems tells Fortune. "If you have the right hardware you can just upgrade the OS, but for some merchants upgrading from XP to Windows 7 can mean all new hardware."
ATMs purchased in the past five years may only need a software upgrade ranging from $4,000 to $5,000, says one FIS Global exec, while replacement costs for ATMs older than 10 years could reach $60,000 per machine.
There are an estimated 420,000 operational ATMs in the U.S. (Bank Systems and Technology, Fortune, Reuters)
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "When an operating system is announced as reaching its end of life, [hackers] are frantically looking for exploits, because then they can use it indefinitely … It's the holy grail of malware."–Security analyst Bogdan Botezatu, on the end of Windows XP support for ATMs nationwide. (Fortune)
INTEL TO DROP $19.2M ON NEXT-GEN NFC TECHNOLOGY: In a deal that has yet to be finalized, Intel intends to spend $19.2 million to acquire “next-generation” MicroRead-v5 NFC technology from INSIDE Secure, that company announced Tuesday. “Intel will continue with this NFC technology in support of our wireless product roadmap," Intel executive Aicha Adams said in a statement. (INSIDE Secure/Finextra)
WITH MOBILE SALES UP, PAYMENTS DRIVING MOBILE INNOVATION: A new study finds 32% of all online purchases are made over mobile devices. “Making mobile payments faster and easier is a big driver for the types of mobile technology that are being developed,” says Electronic Transactions Association CEO Jason Oxman. (Payments Cards & Mobile)
VISA CLOSES DEAL TO EXPAND EMV ROLLOUT. Payments technology provider FIS announced that its NYCE ATM network will now support Visa's EMV debit solution. Visa's EMV debit solution provides technology that allows debit transactions to be routed on multiple unaffiliated networks, a capability that became necessary under the Durbin Amendment of Dodd-Frank. (FIS/BusinessWire)
Check out our new report on the upcoming EMV Migration.
SOURCES – TWO WEEKS UNTIL CHINA CLOSES BITCOIN EXCHANGES. Sources familiar with the matter say that Bitcoin exchanges in China must shut down by April 15th, according to the Wall Street Journal. The enforcement of the rules would affect over 12 Bitcoin exchanges in China. (WSJ)
Dwolla will process e-invoices for GoDaddy. (Tech Faster)
Will Target lawsuit expose failings of PCI security audits? (Wired)
$10M Series A round for China's OKCoin. (OkCoin/Finextra)
Prosecutor - Ex Bitcoin Foundation Vice Chair in Plea Talks. (Payments Source)
Mt. Gox CEO ordered to U.S. to face questioning. (Reuters)
These April Fools' Day jokes could be the next hot payments tech. (Payments Source)
Research Analyst John Heggestuen contributed to this newsletter.
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