Five At Five: BMW Gets Vocal With Digital

Welcome to Five at Five, your late look at the day’s payments and commerce news. Today’s coverage includes BMW’s new voice assistant, a big airline data breach and the rise of fashionable contactless payments. Plus, a type of fraud is gaining and the U.S. charges global hackers.

BMW Debuts Its Own Voice Assistant

The news comes a few weeks after BMW officially launched its integration with Amazon’s Alexa. However, though Alexa allows functions unrelated to the driving experience, the BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant is all about the user’s car.

British Airways Data Breach Compromises 380K Cards

The breach took place from Aug. 21 to Sept. 5 and is now resolved. The hack has been reported to the authorities, including the U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office. British Airways said the stolen data did not include travel or passport details.

Visa Highlights Contactless Payments at New York Fashion Week

The event will have contactless-enabled vending machines that will feature items from designers such as Venessa Arizaga, Neely & Chloe and Rebecca Minkoff. In addition, the vending machines are offering “buy one, get two,” which means that “every tap is an opportunity to pay it forward to friends who inspire them,” the company said in an announcement.

Impersonation Fraud Makes Inroads in the UK

By now, the process may seem familiar. Fraudsters impersonate a trusted email account, supplier or business relationship in order to dupe companies to part with their funds.

Sony Hack Programmer Charged with Cybercrime Conspiracy

The U.S. Justice Department announced that it has charged North Korea’s Park Jin Hyok (박진혁; aka Jin Hyok Park and Pak Jin Hek) for his involvement in multiple cyberattacks around the world.