Tag: smartphone credit cards

Are mobile payments safer than e-commerce? Zapp says they are

| February 19, 2015

Among the primary barriers to paying via smartphone has been a concern that it is not secure.

Although mobile payments are becoming increasingly popular among smartphone and tablet users, they are still not increasing in use at the rate that many in the industry had predicted, despite its broad availability.

Among the main concerns that consumers have expressed is in the form of worries over its security.

That said, Zapp, a mobile payments provider, has now released a report that says that using smartphones to complete purchase transactions is actually safer than buying something over an e-commerce website. Within the report, the company explained that people using this type of service can better “…carry out secure transactions…” than would be possible if they were shopping at the typical online commerce website.

Zapp feels that mobile payments can allow a consumer to shop with the same security as they would with other transactions.

Are mobile payments safe?According to David Emsworth, a spokesperson for Zapp, the smartphone based payments ecosystem is undergoing an evolution that should make it possible for a consumer to use a mobile wallet with the same confidence in its safety and security as they would have when using any other transaction platform.

That said, Emsworth does admit that among the reasons that mobile wallets have not yet faced the types of usage popularity that would draw as much attention to them from hackers as has been created by credit cards. As there aren’t that many users, there aren’t as many criminals out there who are targeting the method.

Potential thieves aren’t yet spending the type of time and effort on cracking mobile wallet systems and platforms as they are on systems that have a considerably larger usage base. That said, as this type of transaction becomes increasingly mainstream, it is unavoidable that those thieves will start to place more of a focus on those smartphone based platforms.

Therefore, while Zapp may be right in saying that mobile payments are currently actually a safer method of shopping than submitting a credit card number into an e-commerce checkout system, it is unknown as to whether or not that will remain the case as consumers start to use these digital wallets on a larger scale.

Mobile payments PCI Security Standards Council introduces new guidance

| February 20, 2013

Mobile Payments SecurityInstructions have been released to help to decrease the risk associated with transactions in certain areas.

The Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council has just released new merchant guidance to help to increase the security available while accepting mobile payments, which is an inherently risky area.

It is recommended that card acquirers and issuers, and banking institutions should apply this guidance.

These types of institution should help to provide this mobile payments guidance while assisting merchants with security in end to end transactions. This, according to Steve Kenneally from the American Bankers Association Center for Regulatory Compliance. He added that “Shining a spotlight on the need to improve payment security is always a great idea.” And said that “Providing specific recommendations on how to achieve a higher level of security is even better.”

The mobile payments environment must be made secure before consumers can be ensured that it is safe.

Kenneally said that his organization anticipates that the PCI guidelines will be able to be used as an additional important tool that can be used by acquirers in order to boost the security of transactions through merchants.

Among the mobile payments security issues that were addressed within this new guidance from the PCI Council are the following:

• Account data entry risks connected with smartphones and tablets, including the information transmitted through the devices as well as the data that is stored within those gadgets.
• The procedures that should be followed by merchants in order to make certain of the security on a physical and transactional level with the devices that are used for the acceptance of the mobile payments.
• Instructions for the various components that should be applied to the acceptance of the transactions, such as software, hardware, and the use of various different acceptance solutions, in addition to considerations regarding the relationship with the customer him or herself.

The PCI guidelines, said Kenneally, take into account that some of the qualities that make accepting mobile payments as appealing to merchants as it is can also offer opportunities to fraudsters. Therefore, it is very important to take specific and careful action to avoid risks as much as is possible.