The September 2007 issue of the Harvard Business Review contains an article titled "Boss, I Think Someone Stole Our Customer Data" (purchase required) consisting of a case study along with accompanying commentary from four executives.

This case presents the fictional story of an electronics retailer who has been notified that it is "showing up as a common point of purchase for a large number of fraudulent credit card transactions." The case fills out some of the facts - and ends at the point a recommendation to the CEO as how to proceed is required. The executives' commentaries discuss what their recommendations are.

If you're involved in merchant card acceptance and PCI-DSS compliance efforts, we highly recommend you read this case - before your CEO does.

Last month's top 11 most popular stories on Payments News were:

1. Capital One Acquires NetSpend for $700 MM
2. First Data, mFoundry Team for Mobile Banking, Mobile Payments
3. Amazon Flexible Payments Service
4. PayPal Introduces PayPal Pay Later
5. Green Dot Enables Cash-based Rent Payments
6. Amdocs Mobile Banking Solution
7. 2007 Card Issuers Identity Safety Scorecard
8. A Look at U.S. Online Credit Card Services
9. Moving Money - Yodlee FundsTransfer
10. A Look Inside PayPal Merchant Services
11. Online Small-Business Strategies of the 30 Largest U.S. Banks

The BBC reports on the UK launch of MasterCard's PayPass contactless technology. "The UK roll-out has begun at some London retailers with newsagents and cafes among the first to use the so-called "contactless" technology."

• Cryptomathic’s CardInk Chosen by Leading Card Personalization Association – Association Des Fabricants Et Personnalisateurs De Cartes (Afpc) - for Data Preparation in France
• Financial Services Authority Declares Device ID Good Practice For Preventing Online Financial Crime
• Denver Post: See ID? Don't do it!