Tag: mobile commerce security

Mobile payments grow, and so too do security worries

Mobile payments are on the rise all over the world. More consumers are getting their hands on smartphones and tablets, allowing them to shop and purchase products online with nothing more than their mobile device and their financial information. Mobile commerce services are expanding, providing the infrastructure necessary to facilitate a new form of commerce among a wide range of consumers. As mobile payments become more common, they are attracting the attention of more than just consumers and businesses. Hackers are beginning to consider mobile commerce a very lucrative playground, and the growth of mobile payments is highlighting the security concerns that exist in this emerging field.

Mobile commerce may yet be vulnerable to threats

The mobile commerce field has successfully attracted several large companies, many of whom have investing in improving the technology used in the field. As the technology that forms the foundation for mobile payments improved, it becomes easier for consumers to make payments directly from the smartphone of tablets. Many of the technological updates have been focused on making mobile commerce more accessible to consumers, however, and not necessarily more secure. This has left many gaps in protection that could be exploited by malicious parties.

Malware targeting mobile commerce field is becoming more common

NQ Mobile, a leading developer of mobile security software, notes that more than 65,000 new malware threats were exposed throughout the world in 2012.  Much of this malware was designed to simply gain access to a mobile device and exploit its information in some way. A significant portion of these threats, which posed as unassuming and docile mobile applications, were designed specifically to steal a consumers financial information when they participated in mobile commerce in some way. NQ Mobile claims that the problem is serious and growing to become a major crisis if measures are not taken to address the issue of malware in the mobile commerce field.

Awareness of mobile security currently lacking among consumers

Mobile security is currently one of the largest challenges facing mobile payments today. Many consumers have shown that they are willing to purchase products, shop, or pay their bills with a mobile device, but relatively few actually do so due to concerns regarding the security of their information. There are several brands of security applications available to help protect mobile devices from malware that would exploit a consumer’s financial information, but awareness of these applications is still somewhat low among many mobile consumers.

Many IT executives around the world are struggling to meet the demands of a growing mobile market.

Based on the findings of the 2013 IT Priorities Survey from Protiviti, many of today’s IT professionals will find it difficult to meet the challenges of mobile commerce, as they are expected to deal with and manage various aspects of mobile technology without having the necessary expertise required.

The survey reveals that IT professionals have only average mobile technical knowledge.

Protiviti’s research results show that almost 200 survey participants, which included IT vice presidents, IT directors, chief security officers, chief information officers, and chief technology officers, scored only an average competent rating for mobile commerce and social media technical knowledge. More specifically, the participants achieved an average 2.8 rank out of 5 in terms of their tech knowledge for the following: m-commerce security, social media security, m-commerce integration, social media integration, and m-commerce policy.

There is a strong demand for mobile commerce, which is rapidly expanding throughout the globe.

Gary Anderson, Protiviti’s managing director for their Asia Pacific region, said that the fast and continued worldwide growth of mobile commerce shows that there is a powerful demand from both consumers and businesses who want to be able to access the information they want wherever they are, whenever they want it. However, with this demand also comes the potential for bigger technology risks.

Anderson went on to say that the result of this puts substantial pressure on businesses and IT departments, “as they are asked to deliver more mobile technology-enabled services. This pressure forces them to take on considerably more risk than they’re prepared for – especially in terms of policy, integration, data management, security and data privacy related to mobile commerce and social media proliferation and innovation.”

According to the survey results, of the 21 technical knowledge areas that were analyzed, the two chief areas that require the biggest improvements are mobile commerce security and social media security. Due to the need for greater security on these fronts, chief information officers (CIOs) and their IT staff will need to work on bettering security to meet the growing number of state and federal information security requirements, and to deal with other technology threats that will only increase as mobile commerce expands around the world.