Category: Mobile Security

The mobile field shouldn’t be taken lightly

Mobile commerce is quickly proving that it is much more than a passing novelty. Mobile technologies like smartphones and tablets are playing a larger role in people’s daily lives. As such, they are beginning to demand services that are specifically tailored for mobile life. Retailers and other businesses are beginning to accommodate this demand, but many are running afoul of serious security issues that could have a catastrophic effect on the mobile space as a whole.

One of the most significant problems that the mobile space faces in terms of security is an overabundant lack of awareness from consumers and businesses alike. Both parties are somewhat oblivious to matters of security, especially when it comes to mobile technology and mobile-centric services. For businesses, this lack of awareness is largely due to decades spent in a world without mobile technology. Consumers are somewhat uninterested in mobile security, wanting instead for their devices and their favorite brands to handle the behind-the-scenes issues without every making their efforts visible.

Lack of awareness is a serious problem

The problem is that this lack of awareness creates a risky environment for mobile commerce. The mobile space is already very attacking to malicious groups because of its trafficking of financial information. A lack of security awareness means that these groups can, at times, move throughout the mobile space unchecked, exploiting financial information wherever they find it. This is becoming a major problem for some businesses focused on the mobile space as they are finding themselves exposed to risks that they do not fully understand how to deal with.

Many businesses are beginning to involve themselves in the mobile world. These businesses see a great deal of promise in mobile commerce and have been inspired by the major success that others have found in this field. Inspiration is not enough to ensure success for these companies, however, as many have rushed into the mobile space with poorly designed platforms and services that have been met with failure. Many of these services lack the security features necessary to be considered viable, while others simply don’t work well.

These platforms represent a significant investment from the companies that make them and their failure constitutes a serious loss. Companies looking to get into the mobile commerce game have to be careful and gauge whether their hasty entry into the market is worth the potential for failure and serious loss.

Apple gathers more momentum in the wake of recent event

Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi recently spoke at the WWDC keynote event, where he brought a great deal of attention to Touch ID, the company’s fingerprint scanner that was introduced last year. Touch ID is part of the iPhone 5S and is meant to add an extra layer of biometric security to the mobile device. This biometric system has created a significant deal of hype around Apple’s potential foray into the mobile payments field, and this hype has only increased in the wake of the WWDC event.

Touch ID could help make mobile shopping more secure

During the event, Federighi noted that developers would soon be able to take advantage of the Touch ID API, allowing them to integrate the features of Touch ID into their applications. This could soon lead to the emergence of a new generation of mobile payments services that are much more secure than their predecessors. Security has been a major challenge for the mobile payments field, with many services falling prey to malicious groups that seek to access the financial information of consumers and businesses. Biometric technology could help alleviate the security problem by make services more resilient against the threats they are exposed to in the mobile space.

Apple continues to move away from NFC

Apple has been somewhat outspoken with its security concerns when it comes to the matter of mobile payments. The company had initially shown interest in the use of NFC technology, but NFC has since become unattractive from Apple’s perspective. Instead, the company is focusing more heavily on Bluetooth and cloud technology, with biometrics service as a security barrier that is meant to offer consumers better protection.

Company has yet to make a definitive entry into the mobile payments field

While Apple has been growing more aggressive in the mobile payments field, the company has yet to make a decisive entry into the marketplace. Though iOS devices can be used for mobile shopping and payments, Apple has not yet introduced a service that is specifically designed for payments and is not likely to do so for some time.