PayPal exec heads to SA

Hot on the heels of PayPal's introduction in South Africa, ITWeb has added Allison Miller, group product manager, Account Risk at PayPal, to the panel of expert speakers at its annual Security Summit - to be held from 11-13 May 2010 at the Sandton Convention Centre.

PayPal arrived in SA last week, after First National Bank (FNB) inked a deal with the global payment processing firm. Paypal's presence in SA will allow locals to join the global e-commerce market and transact with 81 million PayPal accountholders in 190 countries around the world.

Delegates to the firth annual gathering of local and international information security professionals and thought leaders will hear Miller present the PayPal perspective on: “Protecting Customers from Online Threats”.

Says Miller, who is on PayPal's Risk team and responsible for protecting PayPal customers from fraud: “In this talk I'll discuss threats and attacks targeting end-users such as social engineering, credential theft, malware, spam and abuse - and the resulting problems like account takeovers, botnet activity, privacy leaks, and identity theft.

“I'll share some recent case studies where customers have been targeted, in order to answer some key questions: What are the downstream impacts of these attacks on individual customers? Does the presence of known vulnerabilities or "safety gaps" have an effect on the reputation of the service provider in economic terms? What strategies employed by system owners/companies are most likely to be successful?”

Miller focuses on managing new account risk and leveraging network graph data to improve fraud detection. Previously, she was director of product/technology risk at Visa.

FNB CEO Michael Jordaan said the PayPal deal will enable FNB accountholders to “make payments and receive money internationally, without sharing their personal information”.

Steven Ambrose, MD of World Wide Worx Strategy, said international tourists and shoppers may previously have been concerned about divulging their credit card details over the Internet to pay for local goods and services. The agreement removes this worry, as PayPal is a trusted global payment provider, Ambrose told ITWeb.

The ITWeb Security Summit is a yearly gathering of information security professionals and is a must-attend for executives and business owners who are responsible for securing their organisations' assets, information and infrastructure. The 2010 ITWeb Security Summit takes place from 11-13 May at the Sandton Convention Centre.

Highlights include:

* A two-day, independent conference, which explores current security threats and delivers vendor-neutral expertise through a comprehensive line-up of international and local security experts.

* A two-day exhibition showcasing the latest information security technologies, products and professional services.

* A vendor track in the exhibition area.

* A selection of information workshops on the third day.

* A focus on speakers from the corporate end-user community, who will present various case studies.

For further information and conference bookings, visit www.itweb.co.za.