Social
payments are quickly on the rise and there is no doubting that online
security measures will need to adapt to this craze. Social payments started on
Facebook and are quickly moving to other social media platforms. Twitter
recently announced a partnership with American Express that will allow avid
tweeters to make
purchases by using a hashtag. Using their technology, Card Sync, users will
link their bank account to their Twitter account. Once a user tweets using the
appropriate hashtag, American Express will tweet the user confirming the
purchase and then ask the user to tweet back a confirmation hashtag. While this
may sound great to on the fly shoppers and bargain hunters, this could cause a
headache for American Express down the road.
Twitter is already notorious for its, what now seems
harmless, hackings. As of now, having your Twitter account hacked may cause a
few PR disasters for some brands, but the damage is minimal. What happens when
hackers get the word that Twitter accounts will now be linked to bank accounts?
Twitter will turn into one of the most sought after social sites to attack.
Without properly implementing identity
verification of any kind, hackers will be able to access these valuable accounts
with a handle and password. Those are the only things standing in the way of a
users bank account and an identity thief. If social sites start using this
syncing technology more heavily, it will be important that they reassess their fraud
prevention solutions to better authenticate someone who is trying to access
an account. While the convenience of this new technology is easy to be blinded
by, companies must take it upon themselves to protect their customers and their
brand name. As social payments grow, companies will need to better educate
their staff about the risks before its too late.
[Contributed by EVS Marketing]