New Payment Security Technology

Dries Up Terrorists' “Cash Cow”
Removing Card Data From Merchants Chokes a Ready Source of Funds Flowing to Terrorist Groups.

Las Vegas (September 6 , 2007) – A leading expert on terrorism and financial crime says protecting credit card data is critical to eliminating a major source of funding for terrorist organizations. According to Dennis Lormel, a former FBI Section Chief for financial crimes, credit card fraud is a low-risk, high-reward way for terrorists to get the money they need to operate. Further, since terrorists have become adept at hacking into computer systems to steal card data, technology that removes credit card data from computer systems effectively chokes off this revenue stream.

Lormel, who is now Senior Vice President of the consulting firm Corporate Risk International, cites the case of Imam Samudra, who was convicted of masterminding the Bali bombing in Indonesia. “After he was arrested, he wrote a jailhouse manifesto that urged fellow terrorists to hack into computer systems and steal credit card data. He called it the 'cash cow' for radical organizations,” Lormel said

Once the card data is stolen, terrorists then use it to generate cash or to directly purchase items such as weapons, bomb-making materials and night-vision goggles. “They are very adept at exploiting weaknesses in the financial system, such as vulnerable credit card data in computers,” Lormel explained.

Shift4 Corporation, a leading provider of enterprise payment solutions, has developed payment processing technology that combats credit card theft by removing all useable card data at the merchant level so it can never be stolen and used by terrorist organizations. “Getting the data out of the reach of terrorist hackers absolutely chokes off a major source of funds for these organizations,” said Lormel.

Shift4 Corporation's DOLLARS ON THE NET^® payment processing system and 4Go SafeSwipe™ use “Tokenization” technology to remove all usable card data from the entire transaction process. Instead of storing actual credit card numbers, the data is converted to a token: a globally unique, randomized representation of the card number. Only the token is stored in the system. Tokenization is superior to simple encryption because sensitive personal card data is never stored in the system and is thus never available to hackers or dishonest employees.

Lormel will be a featured speaker at the 2007 Real Security Summit, September 26-27, at the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The event, sponsored by Shift4 Corporation, has a limited number of reservations still available. Visit www.shift4.com for registration information.

About Shift4 Corporation

Shift4, a leading developer of secure payment processing software and services utilizing the Software as a Service (SaaS) model, provides real-time enterprise payment solutions for leaders in the hospitality, retail, food services, auto rental, mail/telephone order, and eCommerce markets. Leveraging connectivity to every major processor, DOLLARS ON THE NET provides both high-speed and low-cost authorizations and settlements for credit, debit, check, private label, and gift card transactions. DOLLARS ON THE NET also features the ability to access, review, report, and edit transactions prior to settlement combined with a searchable 24-month archive of transactions for retrieval and chargeback defense. Shift4 is an innovator in payment security, being the first to deliver a tokenization solution for long-term card data protection as well as 4Go® and i4Go® to protect payment data in transit and legacy applications.

Media Contact

Gianna A. Vivo
Shift4 Corporation
702-597-2480 ext. 43300
gvivo@shift4.com

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