According to this, cybercriminals all over the world are trying harder than ever to acquire confidential user data and steal money from bank accounts by creating fake websites and web pages imitating financial organizations or internet resources.

"According to data from threat management solutions developer Kaspersky Lab, this fraudulent scheme, also knows as phishing, targeted more financial institutions in 2013, when the number of attacks on banking websites, online stores and e-payment systems increased to 31.45% from the 22.95% recorded in 2012."

"The same source unveils that in 2013, in the Philippines, banks were the most attractive targets, which accounted for 70.6 % of all financial phishing activities, a sharp increase from the 52% recorded in 2012. Overall, the number of phishing attacks targeting banks almost doubled from 11.92% in 2012 to 22.2% in 2013. On the other hand, the number of attacks on online stores increased insignificantly by 8.5 percentage points while those targeting payment systems dropped by 2.63 percentage points."

According to this, security experts have discovered an application which attempts to monitor communications on Android smartphones.

"The application, called iBanking, is able to spy on phone calls and SMSs on Android phones and tricks users into installing a fake Facebook application. Once installed, it demands a phone number so that hackers can take over a user's bank account."

"This bot is extremely invasive, because hackers are able to listen to calls been made, intercept SMS messages and even listen to private conversations."

"Some of the warning signs include the fact that the application is hosted on a third-party website and is riddled with spelling and grammar errors."

Startup writes: "Global payments giant Mastercard today announced the launch of a new retail accelerator, set to give a group of European start-ups the tools they need to achieve rapid growth."

Twitter and Amazon have paired up for an e-commerce program called #AmazonCart. Now, users who sync up their Twitter and Amazon accounts can add items to their Amazon shopping cart simply by tweeting about them.

"#AmazonCart only works when users reply to a tweet with an Amazon product link. That means tweeting “I want Nike shoes!! #AmazonCart” won’t magically put a pair of Air Jordans in your account. Using #AmazonCart does not let users buy the item directly from Twitter. (Nor are you charged automatically after posting an #AmazonCart tweet.) Instead, users log into Amazon later to complete the purchase. The @MyAmazon account will send a follow-up reply tweet updating users about the status of their item."

"This e-commerce partnership highlights how eager both parties are to forge connections between social networks and online retailers, but the program itself is odd. The big idea is that people who use Amazon and Twitter are regularly finding stuff they want to buy in their Twitter feed, but it’s too inconvenient to switch over to Amazon to make that purchase. Not sure how many of those people exist, but OK. "

"I suspect both Twitter and Amazon are overestimating how many people would want this service. It doesn’t sound like it will be all that convenient, since users will still have to go to Amazon’s website to make the actual purchase, and it requires that people publicly place items in their carts. Also, Twitter users may be more annoyed than excited by #AmazonCart if it primarily ends up increasing the number of tweets about products from retailers in their feed."

More info here.

"From same-day fulfillment to sites that are optimized for mobile shopping, the influence of e-commerce and m-commerce is undeniable. But what many consumers don’t see is how different point-of-sale systems in the store, on desktops and on mobile devices act on the back-end. This innovation of retail technology has changed the industry for the better – but often at the cost of displaying an inconsistent customer experience across these channels."

Interview with NRF Vice President of Retail Technology Tom Litchford where he explains how this challenge relates to the recent Digitizing the Store study, which sought to quantify the convergence of point of sale and e-commerce technology and the impact this is having in stores.

"How has e-commerce sparked an evolution of the modern POS system? Great question. Historically the term POS has been applied to the physical point-of-sale solution in stores. But this research was looking at how systems were evolving that actually transacted with customers – in other words, accepted payment for goods or services. Before the Internet and subsequent e-commerce systems, store-based POS was the primary, if not only, transacting system. With the rise of e-commerce, and now m-commerce, retailers and their customers have multiple “channels” now where they can conduct business. Unfortunately, from a technology perspective, these channels have evolved in isolation from each other. This is making it difficult for the business to present a seamless experience to the customer."

"Many retailers and industry solution providers have recognized that this “isolated evolution” is a problem. According to our survey, nearly 40 percent of retailers are considering a single consumer platform to manage interactions and transactions. This means retail IT teams are thinking about how to update existing infrastructure, architecture and applications – most notably within brick-and-mortar locations – to keep pace with the constantly changing face of the industry."

"The easy answer would be to not just automatically upgrade or replace your existing POS or e-commerce solution at the next refresh cycle. Before you do that, make sure from a technology perspective that you have a roadmap that takes into account all potential customer touchpoints and channel preferences. But the discussion isn’t as much a technology discussion as it is a business process discussion. For example, beyond compensation issues, there’s logistics for fulfillment and replenishment. So as business leaders, make sure you’re engaging all stakeholders to gain consensus on the path forward."

More info here.