Warc, 13 August 2013
LONDON: Payment security on mobile devices is a growing
issue, as smartphone usage booms and many people fail to protect access to
their devices with a personal identification number, but biometric solutions
offer a way forward, a leading consultancy has said.
"Protecting the mobile device itself is a first step,
necessary to secure mobile payments," said Jean-Noel Georges, Frost & Sullivan
Global Program Director, ICT in Financial Services.
A recent Havas Worldwide report noted that security was a
lingering concern for most people when shopping online, with a large majority
worrying at least occasionally about potential fraud and abuse of privacy.
"The time is now right for biometric technology to
emerge as a secure solution for mobile applications that require high levels of
security, particularly payment," he declared.
"From a pure-payment security point of view, biometrics
has already delivered significant advantages," added Georges.
Frost & Sullivan observed that the existing technologies
within mobile devices – headphone, microphone and camera – could be leveraged
to create optimal solutions around voice and facial recognition as well as
bi-modal authentication.
The need for intuitive customer experiences was stressed and
Frost & Sullivan remarked on "a practically effortless payment
mechanism" based on a fingerprint reader that connected to a contactless
card to verify personal data stored therein.
Georges noted the rumours that the next iPhone could include
a fingerprint sensor, a development he said could have "a huge impact on
biometric security solutions".
But even if the technologies currently exist, the cost and
complexity of integrating them into mobile devices makes a widespread rollout a
major challenge, said Frost & Sullivan. In addition, the end user would
need time to accept a new way of interacting with their device.
Nonetheless, having to remember PINs is likely to become a
thing of the past fairly soon.
"We expect to see biometrics becoming increasingly
prevalent over the course of the next three to four years, driven by a desire
among vendors and consumers alike to be better protected when accessing mobile
services," Georges concluded.
Data sourced from PR Newswire; additional content by Warc
staff
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