The payments industry is seeing a lot of change and growth
regarding mobile
payments, banking applications and peer-to-peer transfers. Mobile payments
are meant to make life easier and convenient for the user. They do so by always
being on and connected to our devices, not to mention being portable. A lot of
consumers feel its easier to complete mobile payments and transactions from their
devices. Other users feel that the inconvenience of having to get out a device
and load an app has made the technology hard to adopt and not worth it. While
some people believe that mobile phones could replace plastic cards and even
cash in the near future, there are some obstacles that payment providers need
to overcome first.
Giving users more flexibility and power in managing payments
from a mobile device is the overall goal from business to consumer. However, filling
in mobile security gaps should be top priority. Techniques for protecting
payment data on mobile devices are a daily battle and changes often. Banking
institutions, payments processors and merchants need to be focusing on fraud
risks. These security measures can slow things down for the customer but
security cannot be overlooked. Since we cant control what people download on
their phones and whether or not they have password protection, security
measures need to be enhanced and ready for theft and fraudsters. All mobile
payments platforms should require a secure log in using a username and password
and sometimes even a PIN.
Were already seeing more intelligent authentication methods
on devices like fingerprint scanners and the talk of iris scanners. There needs
to be a balance between security of an app and convenience for the user. Layered
and tiered security can help with whether or not a transaction needs a lot of
security. Mobile payments providers will always have to strive for better ways
to protect our users without requiring them to go through all of todays authentication
methods. We urge banking institutions to implement mobile security best
practices before deploying any new platforms.
[Contributed by EVS Marketing]
