Tag: mobile commerce security

Focus on mobile identity is growing due to popularity of mobile commerce

Mobile identity is becoming more important to businesses, especially as more consumers around the world begin to rely on smartphones, tablets, and other devices in their daily lives. Market research firm ResearchMOZ has released a new report concerning the growing importance of mobile identity and how businesses are beginning to invest more heavily in biometrics and other such technologies. The report cites the growth of mobile interactions and mobile commerce as the influence behind higher investments in mobile identity.

Companies begin taking security more seriously

Mobile identity is an aspect of security that has become quite important in the world of business as more companies around the world begin to participate in mobile commerce and offer mobile-centric services. Companies are beginning to invest heavily in mobile identity infrastructure as it is being seen as an efficient and economic form of fraud detection and prevention. Mobile identity largely relies on the use of biometric technology, such as fingerprint scanners, to make things like mobile commerce more secure for consumers.

Mobile commerce security too sparse for some consumers

Mobile commerce, in particular, could have a lot to gain from businesses focusing more heavily on mobile identity. Mobile commerce has struggled with security issues for much of its existence. Many consumers that have shown interest in shopping for and purchasing products with their mobile devices have expressed concerns regarding the security of their financial information. Mobile commerce has become a popular target for hackers, many of whom are finding it relatively easy to exploit the financial information of consumers. A lack of security can expose companies to significant liability issues, especially when financial information is involved.

Companies seek to make mobile commerce safer

The report notes that companies like Google, Groupon, and Vodafone have made mobile identity a top priority. This is due to the involvement that these companies have in mobile commerce. As businesses begin to invest more heavily in mobile identity, better security systems are expected to begin emerging. Many of these security systems are expected to leverage biometric technology in some way.

A recent study has shown that customers are not interested in shopping over smartphones until they feel safe.

Businesses that are hoping to be able to take full advantage of what m-commerce has to offer are, according to a recent report based on a study, going to need to do a better job at showing consumers that they can trust in mobile security.

Many smartphone owners simply do not feel that it is safe enough to share their details to buy over these devices.

Though many people are still looking at products on their smartphones, in addition to other shopping behaviors such as comparing prices, they are still much more comfortable making purchases from their laptops and desktops than they are using m-commerce, simply because they do not yet have faith in mobile security. This, according to the National Cyber Security Alliance and PayPal’s results of the 2013 National Online Safety Study.

The report suggests that mobile security should be a prime focus for convincing consumers to use m-commerce.

What the report revealed was that 36 percent of respondents were feeling mobile security concerns when it came to shopping over their smartphones and tablets. However, at the same time, only 22 percent of the participants had taken the precaution of installing a protection app into their device beyond whatever was included in the manufacturer initially installed. There were far more game apps installed than those meant for protecting the device.

According to the National Cyber Security Alliance executive director, Michael Kaiser, “Many people just start using a mobile device without always taking the time to implement safety or security measures.” He added that by making sure that mobile security software has been installed and that it includes a program that can wipe out the data the phone contains if it is ever lost or stolen, and by locking the device with a password, greater peace of mind can be achieved.

Aside from mobile security, there were also large concerns identified regarding the risk that someone else would be able to make a purchase with their device if it was ever lost or stolen. That said, only 34 percent locked their devices with a pin or password.