A comprehensive survey with over 900 participating cyber security experts showed a striking majority of 87% anticipating a rise in mobile payment data breaches in the coming year. Figures show that 42% of all transactions made in 2015 are mobile payments.
The 2015 Mobile Payment Security Study, conducted by a wide-reaching, global cyber security association – ISACA, looks into the biggest security risks along with the best security measures in the mobile payment industry.
According to Future Market Insights, the global mobile transaction market that will be populated by payment methods such as Apple Pay, PayPal, Google Wallet and Venmo will be worth a staggering USD $2.8 trillion by 2020.
The complete study can be found here.
Survey Findings.
According to nearly 1000 cyber security experts who participated in the survey:
- 47% of the experts believe mobile payments are not
- 87% of all polled experts foresee a rise in mobile payment data breaches in the immediate 12 months.
- Only 23% of experts believe that mobile payments are secure with keeping personal information safe.
- 89% of experts point to cash being the most secure payment method, although only 9% of all payments are cash-based.
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Counting the vulnerabilities of mobile payments in the present day, researchers point to:
- The use of public WiFi being the biggest vulnerability of mobile payment at 26%.
- Lost or stolen mobile devices come second in the biggest vulnerabilities of mobile payments at 21%.
- 18% of phishing and scamming campaigns targeting mobile phones come next.
- The all-too-common implementation of weak passwords also counts among the top vulnerabilities, at 13%.
John Pironti, a risk advisor of ISACA and president of IP Architects, said:
“Mobile payments represent the latest frontier for the choice we make to balance security and privacy risk and convenience.”
Effective Means to Improving Mobile Security
In listing the most effective ways to make mobile payments more secure, cybersecurity experts agreed that:
- Two-factor authentication was the best way to make payments secure.
- A temporary authentication code under a timer came next.
- Mobile security enhancing apps rounded up the three most effective ways to make mobile payments secure.