Author: Lucy

A new UK consumer survey reveals that most British mobile users are not concerned about security.

The survey from internet security company, ZenMate, carried out by OnePoll, found that many UK smartphone users are rather apathetic when it comes to mobile security, which may come as a surprise to some, considering one would think that the average mobile user would find it important to protect personal and sensitive data on their device, especially with the number of cyber attacks on the rise.

Less than half of the survey respondents said they protect their phone’s browsing data or connections.

The survey, which had 2,000 participants from the United Kingdom, also discovered that over 45% of those who participated admitted that they do not even implement basic security measures for their devices, such as using a passcode lock. In other words, if their smartphone was lost or stolen, the thief or whoever finds their phone would be able to gain instant access to their apps and other information.

Furthermore, only 41.5% of participants said they take precautionary measures when using their mobile phone for online browsing and when using public networks that are unsecured. To further back up this finding, a recent report by Ofcom revealed that, on average, people do not typically think twice about security when accessing public Wi-Fi.

According to University of Warwick Professor Harjinder Lallie, setting up rouge access points is fairly simple. He added that “Because this is so easy to do, it’s a major problem is that most people don’t make the most basic checks about the access point they are connecting to –such as ‘is this a secure connection?’ and ‘does it belong to whom it claims to belong to?’”

Only 35% of participants said mobile security is their top concern when browsing online.

Of the survey respondents that made up the 18-24 age group, while 35% said privacy was their major concern when surfing the web via their smartphone, 44.6% said that speed is more important to them than privacy. Moreover, 77% said they regularly use unsecured public W-Fi.

The co-founder of ZenMate, Simon Specka, said that with so many people using public Wi-Fi, it means that more consumers are increasing their risk of opening themselves up to cyber criminals, and most of them are completely unaware of it. He added that if consumers want to access unsecured networks via their mobile device it is prudent to have mobile security protection.

This new smartphone payments service has been made available to device users in India.

Idea Cellular has recently announced the launch of its new mobile wallet service, called Idea Money, that is designed to give consumers the ability to complete certain payment transactions, such as recharging their prepaid mobile accounts.

It is also designed to allow utility bell payments DTH recharges, and make online money transfers.

This service was first launched in July in Mumbai and it will be rolled out throughout India through a number of phases, said a source from the company. That said, that individual declined to share the availability timeline for the availability of the mobile wallet across the country. This is far from the only service of this nature that is available within the Indian market. Vodafone, Tata Teleservices, Bharti Airtel, and other mobile operators are already providing mobile payments options to their customers.

The Idea Money website describes the mobile wallet as a semi-closed prepaid payment service.

That website explained that the service is being offered by Idea Mobile Commerce Services Limited (IMCSL), which obtained its license to provide it through the Reserve Bank of India. Idea stated that “Simply put, it is a prepaid account which can be accessed using your mobile phone or the Internet for conducting a variety of transactions like prepaid mobile recharges, DTH recharges, utility bill payments, money transfers & more.”

At the moment, the number of uses for these mobile payments is limited to certain bills on top of money transfers. It can recharge prepaid mobile services, recharge DTH, pay off utility bills, and send money to specific accounts. Though this does provide consumers with a convenient opportunity to use their smartphones and tablets to make payments, the company is hopeful that the uses will soon be able to broaden.

At the same time that it is focused on rolling out this mobile wallet across the remainder of India, it is also looking into additional uses for the service. This includes the introduction of mobile payments for shopping at stores and restaurants, for example, as well as uses for ticketing transactions. This could help to boost the appeal of the service among consumers who are using their smartphones for a growing number of daily activities.