Mobile payments are convenient, quick and the best part is that you do not have to take the hassle of carrying around different cards.
According to the reports, the growth in the mobile payment market has escalated extensively. You can clearly see from the worldwide payment revenue which is estimated to exceed 1 trillion U.S. Dollars in 2019 against just 450 million in 2015.
One of the major reasons for the shoot up of mobile payments is the increasing number of smartphone users. People are getting more inclined towards trying out the new techniques on one hand, but at the same time, are also skeptical about mobile payment security.
So, if you have a mobile app selling a product or service and providing the facility of mobile payments, you need to provide the assurance that it is safe for the consumers to use.
Well, the question that pops up here is what steps will you take to ensure your customer that there are no security concerns of any sort?
Well, the following information can help you answer this question:
Lost or stolen mobile device
Risk:
Mobile phones have surpassed its basic use of just calling people. Today, they have replaced the wallets, business cards, GPS, banking, credit card scanners and so on with their mobile phone.
Now, when you have integrated these facilities in your phone, it means your phone has some sensitive data like passwords, personal information, bank details, location and much more. So, there is a great risk of their data getting hacked or misused. How will you ensure your customers that the mobile payments will not affect their confidential information?
Solution:
If your business has a mobile app, you should definitely be investing in things that can offer your customers the security they deserve. Come up with a protection technology that will restrict the thief or a hacker to access your customers’ mobile wallet.
You can integrate a two-factor authentication to strengthen their information security. The customers can use a combination of a facial identification and fingerprint or can simply have a PIN number. So, in the case where your customer’s mobile phone is lost or stolen, no one will be able to access their confidential information.
Phishing scams
Risk:
Hearing about phishing scams do not come as a surprise at all, but as the digital landscape continues to grow and expand, cybercrime is evolving to new heights of intelligence and speed. According to May 2018’s Phishing Report by Wandera, a phishing scam is one of the biggest threats to the organizations today. Every day around 4000 new mobile phishing websites are launched and mobile users are 18 times more likely to be phished than downloading malware.
The top 5 apps that are targeted for such phishing scams include:
- Messenger (text)
- Facebook Messenger
- Line
- Viber
So, how can you as a business give confidence to your customers that you are genuine and there is no such phishing scam from your end?
Solution:
Well, the solution to these scams largely depends on the customers. They need to be careful and alert while not getting trapped in any such phishing scams. As a business, you can provide them with some guidelines that state what should be avoided.
Normally, the tips that can save your customer from these phishing scams include: staying vigilant while downloading the apps from unknown sources, not clicking on any random links, paying attention to the URL of websites and so on. The best practice is to stick to well-known creators while browsing or downloading anything from the internet.
Weak passwords
Risk:
One of the oldest forms of hacking is having weak or overused passwords. The best example of how even the strongest form of password hashing encryption can fail to cybercriminals decryption tools is when the police phone tracking firm got hacked. So, weak passwords can really pose a threat to mobile payment security.
Solution:
The simple solution that you can give to your customers here is to use different passwords for different things. Ask them to keep on changing the passwords at regular intervals. If you are short of passwords, try and use a password manager that assist is generating strong passwords using a combination of numbers, letters, and special characters while storing them all in an encrypted vault.
Public Wi-Fi
Risk:
Any day, public Wi-Fi is dangerous. It is easily possible for the hackers to spy on the data provided by your consumers over an encrypted network. They can get all the data of the mobile wallet while accessing the phone and the cards stored.
Solution:
The customers should majorly avoid using the public Wi-Fi. And, if they have no other option left, they should strictly avoid entering any personal information on their phone while using a public Wi-Fi. The other option is to use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) when connected to unsecured networks. This will establish a level of encryption between the device and the website, so any data that is transmitted is unreadable without a unique decryption key.
Malware
Risk:
Once a hacker gains access to a particular mobile phone, he can easily access the stored cards. Remember, mobile phones are not immune to malware. Cybercriminals have the tendency to use malware to remotely
confiscate computers, smartphones, passwords or any other user information. Malware typically results when a user clicks on a sketchy ad or a phoney link sent by a malicious third party.
Solution:
While developing your mobile app, employ security features on the payment system. Though, it is important to note that this won’t be able to control the third-party browsers where many customers manage their online accounts.
Nevertheless, the best thing to ask your customers to do is avoid clicking on links included in suspicious ads, email or even text messages from unfamiliar sources. As an extra safeguarding measure, recommend your target audience to install the anti-virus software.
Give your customers a seamless and a secured mobile payment system
Despite all these risks, the Security Intelligence is still confident that mobile payments are more secure due to tokenization as it effectively hides your card number during the transactions.
The key to preventing mobile payment frauds is to gather, analyze and support the data. In this regard, you as a mobile app owner must provide a wealth of information – stating historical, regional and technical trends to be followed. This will, in turn, help you detect and block fraudulent transactions without creating false declines and losing your real and loyal customers.
Mobile payment security concerns are expected to see a dramatic current and future growth opportunities while imparting proper training and education to stay alert while using mobile phones.
So, stay tuned to the advancements while evolving at every step. This will give your customers the confidence to use mobile payment facilities without any security issue.
Author Bio:
Nirav Shastri is a Sr. Digital Marketing Strategist at Space-O Technologies, top iPhone App Development Company. He has 7+ years of experience in the Information Technology industry that inspires him to share his knowledge through articles. In fact, Nirav also works with a team of experienced creative digital strategists to generate unique and data-driven campaigns. He also spends his time reading about new technology and watches motivational videos.
