Tag: security mobile

Report shows that consumers favor the convenience of mobile commerce

BuzzCity, a global mobile advertising network, has released a new report that highlights the growing popularity of mobile commerce. Many consumers have become interested in using their smartphones and tablets to shop online. The reason this is becoming attractive to consumers is because of the convenience that mobile commerce represents. According to BuzzCity, convenience is one of the factors influencing the interest consumers have in mobile shopping.

More people are expecting to spend their money through mobile devices

The report from BuzzCity shows that one in five consumers expected that more than have of their spending will come through a mobile device of some kind. Consumers appear to favor small purchases over larger ones. Approximately 18% of consumers noted that the variety of products available to them through mobile commerce is also a reason that encourages them to make purchases through a mobile device. The fact that they can do this shopping at any time and wherever they may be is one of the most attractive aspects of mobile commerce for consumers.

Consumers favor mobile websites over those that are not optimized for mobile viewing

According to the report, 19% of consumers said that they would not use retail websites that are not optimized to be viewed on mobile devices. These sites offer a poor shopping experience, making it difficult for consumers to make purchases with their smartphones or tablets. Notably, tablets are becoming a very attractive option for those interested in mobile commerce because these devices have larger screens that make the shopping experience more enjoyable.

Consumers remain concerned about the security of their personal information while using mobile commerce platforms

While consumers are showing more interest in mobile commerce, they are also concerned with the overall security of online platforms. Those participating in mobile shopping are not convinced that mobile commerce platforms are able to protect their financial information. Companies involved in the mobile commerce space are working to improve security in order to effectively protect consumers and new technology is being used to keep sensitive information safe.

A man has now been arrested by police in the United Kingdom in conjunction with the November 14 cyberattack.

Back on November 14, the server at Vtech was hacked in a massive cyberattack that placed the mobile security of an estimated 11.6 million customers at risk of having their personal information exposed.

Police in the U.K. who were investigating this data breach have now made an arrest in the case.

Vtech experienced its massive mobile security hack on November 14, when someone broke in and gained access to the email addresses, names, photos, birthdates and weakly encrypted passwords of that company’s customers. Essentially, any information that had been stored into the Learning Lodge app store database – which is used by many of the educational toys produced by Vtech – became accessible to the hacker through the cyberattack.

In November, Vtech had said that the mobile security breach impacted about 4.8 million of its customers.

However, earlier in December the company updated that number, increasing it by more than double, to 11.6 million. Among them, 6.4 million of those affected customers are children. That said, only a few days ago, police in the United Kingdom placed a 21 year old male under arrest under suspicion of having violated the Computer Misuse Act by way of two separate offenses. The first was the unauthorized use of a computer. The second was in using that computer to access data in an unauthorized way.

The police have also seized a number of electronic gadgets in order to conduct a forensic examination on the case. These devices were collected during the raid which occurred to the west of London in Bracknell. That part of the country is known for being an important part of the technology industry.

The arrest in this mobile security breach case was conducted by officers from the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit as a part of a larger effort in conjunction with other agencies that was focused on tracking down the hacker behind the VTech breach. The head of the Unit, Craig Jones, reported that the investigation remains early on and there is still a great deal more that can be learned about what happened.