Visa and MasterCard Evolution

Interview with a Russian Ex-Hacker

Yanina Noel

Dmitry Artimovich is a well-known expert on online payment systems with over 15 years of experience in the financial industry. He is a popular keynote speaker at international FinTech and PayTech events and is called a “Russian hacker” by the world’s largest news sources (The New York Times, Associated Press). Recently Dmitry published his first book, “ONLINE PAYMENT SOLUTIONS.” He shares more in this interview.

Please tell us about your experience and how you became a “Russian hacker.”

Technological innovations drive dramatic changes in the financial industry, and it is always exciting to me. I have extensive experience, starting from being a computer game developer and growing into the CEO of the first payment provider in Russian. And well,,, (laughing) I was really referred to as a hacker in a few New York Times articles. But that was many years ago, and since then I’ve built an amazing business career with no speculation that I’m a hacker.

What is the main issue the book seeks to address? Why did you write it?
When I was working for a payment provider, I faced the issue of how to train and educate personnel. Many young lads had no idea how bank payments are wired. We decided to develop an in-house knowledge base (wiki) and then write a textbook. Thus Online Payment Solutions was born. And the book was publicly recognized as a good one, covering the development history of Visa and MasterCard with a detailed comparison of payment legislation in different countries, as well as chapters addressing how internet  acquiring works.

To whom you would recommend your book?

• Employees of Internet payment service providers. The book was initially written for them in Russian and then translated and adapted for EU legislation.
• Bank workers dealing with Internet  acquiring.
• E-commerce managers. The book will help them understand how bank cards work and how the payment commission is calculated.

The book will be interesting for anyone curious about the largest financial company in the world, VISA, and the history of credit cards. The VISA ideas, created by founder Dee Hock, are really impressive.

What value does Online Payment Solutions bring to the table?
It is a summary of many useful things to make you payment-smart. Inside, you can find out:

• The basics of bank system and payment transfers.
• How payment systems first appeared and developed.
• How payments are performed in payment systems, technical procedures, rules of payment systems, and payments for high risk business categories (e.g. online casinos, adult websites, etc.).
• A detailed comparison of payment legislation in the US, EU, and Russia.

Any valuable tips for business owners to deal with online fraud risks?
Not every company has the same security measures as the big corporations, but still you can do a lot to protect your business.

• Separate your personal accounts from your business accounts. One of the most frequent scams for businesses involves credit card fraud, if there is a breach of security, it won’t affect every your account.
• Increase protection of all your bank cards. Don’t give your business credit cards to your employees. Lock your company mailbox and give the key only to the trusted employee. Store all confidential data in a secure place. Use a secure online bill payment system!
• Increase protection of your company IT infrastructure. Get a standard protection package — the firewall, antivirus, malware, and spyware detection software. Back up everything! Change passwords regularly and protect them! Do not use the same password for all your accounts.
• Get one separate computer for all your online financial transactions. Use it only for financial purposes and not for social media, watching movies, googling and not for your email. Do not use mobile banking, especially with unsecured Wi-Fi.
• Develop your company guidelines for your employees how to handle confidential data including your customer information and financial details.
• If you have an ecommerce business and you can’t invest much into the security measures, I would recommend to buy an insurance that includes losses from the online fraud.

What is the most expected PayTech trend in 2019?

I would expect decrease of plastic card issuance. Today, the issue of plastic cards has become almost a burden. It is an infrastructure supporting duty that makes even well-developed digital banks ensure their presence offline. Plastic cards must be delivered to the final clients either through offline affiliated offices or by an army of couriers. Mobile payments and digital wallet service by Google Wallet, Apple Pay, PayPal Mobile, Visa Checkout, MasteCard MasterPass and etc. that allow users to make payments in person, in iOS and Android apps, and on the web, might finish the plastic card epoch very soon.

Dmitry’s book is available on Amazon