MasterCard

Akamai managers say they could have bolstered the Web sites that buckled under attacks launched recently by Internet vigilantes.

The world's largest content delivery network says it has enough servers and the right kind of network to "mitigate distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks," Neil Cohen, Akamai's senior director of product marketing told CNET. DDoS describes the practice of overwhelming a Web site with traffic so that it can't be accessed.

Some well-known sites were the targets of DDoS attacks launched by a loosely connected group of WikiLeaks supporters who call themselves Anonymous or Anon for short. … Read more

An outage that took down some of Amazon's European Web sites yesterday was caused by hardware error and not hackers, according to the company.

The online retailer's shopping sites in the U.K, France, Spain, and Germany were down for about half an hour starting around 9:15 p.m. GMT, leading to initial speculation that Amazon had been hit by hackers associated with the pro-WikiLeaks group Anonymous.

But in a statement released to Reuters, Amazon attributed the cause to hardware problems.

"The brief interruption to our European retail sites earlier today was due to hardware failure … Read more

A hosting company has said it will take immediate legal action against Visa and MasterCard over the credit card companies' refusal to process donations for whistle-blower site WikiLeaks.

DataCell, based in Iceland, facilitates donations to WikiLeaks. DataCell said it had been losing revenue since Visa and MasterCard decided to stop processing WikiLeaks' donations.

"DataCell...has decided to take up immediate legal actions to make donations possible again," DataCell CEO Andreas Fink said in a statement Wednesday. Fink told ZDNet UK that DataCell would pursue legal action as soon as possible: "Not being able to receive money from … Read more

Activists fighting on behalf of WikiLeaks brought down MasterCard's Web site today, according to the BBC and other sources.

The hacking group Anonymous is taking responsibility for a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack on the credit company's site in retaliation for MasterCard's decision on Monday to block donations and payments to WikiLeaks, which was first reported by CNET.

MasterCard's main site was at times either offline or extremely slow to load this morning. Ping requests to the site also timed out, an indication that the site was unreachable.

Early this morning, the Anonymous group, which … Read more

MasterCard is pulling the plug on payments to WikiLeaks, a move that will dry up another source of funds for the embattled document-sharing Web site, CNET has learned.

"MasterCard is taking action to ensure that WikiLeaks can no longer accept MasterCard-branded products," a spokesman for MasterCard Worldwide said today.

That further limits the revenue sources for WikiLeaks, which has seen its finances systematically attacked in the last few days, as the Swiss authorities shut down a bank account used by editor Julian Assange, and PayPal permanently restricted the account used by the group. WikiLeaks has responded with an … Read more

It's no surprise that everyone wants in on PayPal's successful payments strategy, and MasterCard is no exception. On Wednesday, the credit card giant launched a version of its MoneySend mobile app for BlackBerry.

Similar to the iPhone version, MasterCard MoneySend for BlackBerry can settle peer-to-peer balances by sending money to friends and family, and purchasing goods from an informal vendor. The app's tool lets you request cash (via text message) that others owe you and receive credit and debit card payments made to your account.

Since MoneySend operates as a form of prepaid credit card, you can … Read more

Jill Schlesinger, aka Aunt Jill of CBS MoneyMoney, fills in for Justin, who is waiting for the cable guy. I believe they told him they'd come sometime between today and next week between the hours of 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. (We all know how the cable guy loves to be on time).

On today's show, we talk about Facebook Places, a location-based check-in service. Say you're at a fantastic restaurant. You'll be able to check in with your mobile phone with GPS, leave comments about the food and service, tag your friends who … Read more

AT&T and Verizon Wireless are teaming up to turn your cell phone into a credit card, according to a story published by Bloomberg on Sunday.

The nation's two largest cell phone operators are forming an alliance with the credit card company Discover Financial Services and global bank Barclays to create a new service that could displace credit and debit cards with smartphones, the news agency reported. AT&T and Verizon Wireless are believed to be equal partners in the venture, with T-Mobile--the fourth largest wireless operator in the U.S--holding a smaller stake, Bloomberg also reported. … Read more

I know plenty of people who would love to have an iPad, but aren't willing to spend $500 (minimum) on one. Well, how about $400? If that sounds a little more palatable, read on.

A new Citibank promotion is offering a $100 credit when you spend at least $300 using a new Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards Card.

That means if you use the card to buy a $499 iPad, the credit brings your bottom-line price down to $399. (Obviously the same math applies to any iPad model: basically, you're saving $100.)

There are, of course, a few terms … Read more