MasterCard Incorporated has announced the acquisition of Orbiscom Ltd., a Dublin, Ireland-based leading payments solutions software provider for major financial institutions. According to MasterCard, the purchase price is approximately $100 million, a portion of which is contingent upon the future performance of Orbiscom's business. READ MORE »

In a press release, Orbiscom has announced that 'millions of consumers are taking control over risks from identity theft and online fraud with a free security service from Orbiscom. The service is available from credit card and online payment issuers and generates disposable numbers linked to a real account that can only be used within constraints specified by the card holder. As a result, merchants and unauthorized persons are prevented from seeing direct financial details in transactions that do not require the physical card, like online or by phone.' READ MORE »

MasterCard and Orbiscom have announced an agreement to create MasterCard inControl - what the companies call an "innovative platform that offers an array of advanced authorization, transaction routing and alert controls designed to enable issuers to more quickly and cost-efficiently introduce new and enhanced products."

Digital Transactions reports that "PayPal will start rolling out its so-called virtual debit card to “hundreds of thousands” of users some time this month in a process it expects to complete by the end of August." Using software from Orbiscom that is downloaded by the consumer, a single use MasterCard Debit account number is generated which can then be used at any MasterCard accepting ecommerce merchant. No changes are required by merchants to handle these transactions - effectively extending PayPal's reach to essentially all off-eBay ecommerce merchants.