Tag: mobile security

SAP suggests that security and privacy are two of the most significant problems in the mobile sector

Software firm SAP sees security and privacy as two major issues when it comes to using big data in the mobile sector. Big data is a term that is used to identify the large amounts of unstructured data that businesses accumulate. This data is comprised of information regarding consumers and is typically collected by retailers without the express consent of customers. Security and privacy have become very controversial issues in recent years, partly due to the fact that people are becoming more reliant on mobile technology in their daily lives.

Survey shows that big data continues to be a high value resource for retailers

According to a recent survey conducted by SAP, many mobile industry groups believe that big data and retail go hand in hand. The survey shows that some 36% of industry groups believe that real-time offers coming from retailers engaged in the mobile commerce space will drive up the value of big data. This data is often used to design more effective marketing strategies and connect with consumers more aggressively.

Personal information is often collected from consumers without express consent

The problem with big data, however, is that much of it is acquired without consent. Consumers often visit websites where they can shop online and in doing so they typically agree to have their information collected but are never made aware of such an agreement. This can quickly become a serious problem for retailers as consumers become more concerned over their own privacy and how their personal information is being used by businesses.

Mobile operators and banks may offer ideal mobile payments support

The survey from SAP does not focus entirely on security and privacy, of course. The survey shows that many mobile industry groups have high hopes for mobile commerce in the future. Many of these groups believe that mobile network operators are ideally positioned to provide effective mobile payments platforms for consumers. Banks are also considered to be well situated to address many of the security issues that exist within the realm of mobile commerce due to the numerous regulations they must comply with.

The credit card giant will be working with Syniverse on this location based verification checking.

With the explosion in the number of smartphone users that there are around the world, MasterCard is working to capitalize on these consumers – particularly those travelling internationally – and to encourage them to use their services without the risk of losing time, patience, and money to security problems, by using geolocation technology for verification.

A new security system is now being implemented to confirm credit card payments through customer smartphones.

This is not an entirely revolutionary process, but instead uses geolocation technology as a variation of the current standard two step process of authentication. However, instead of requiring the smartphone user to enter an additional login code, as is the case with certain web services, the proposal of MasterCard is to use the GPS function from mobile devices, which has become a standard function in most smartphones.

The idea is to use geolocation technology to show that the card and user are in the same place.

What this means is that if the smartphone of the credit card user is located in the same place as the card when it is being used, then the transaction receives approval. MasterCard has said that this helps to shrink the chance of both unauthorized attempts to use the card and of declined transactions that are actually valid.

The one problem that has been identified that could cause a considerable problem to this mobile security system is that when users travel internationally, the odds are that they will have shut off their data service in order to help to reduce the chance of building up expensive roaming charges. This would eliminate the benefit of the concept behind MasterCard’s validation service.

MasterCard has not failed to recognize this issue. The company is, therefore, working to offer prepaid data packages that can be purchased directly through their own mobile devices from the moment that they arrive in another country. This is meant to help to encourage users to keep their data connection enabled so that they will be able to use the added security based on geolocation technology.