The Evolution of Mobile Payments & How They Are Becoming More Secure

Slowly but surely, mobile payments have become more popular with people. But is the reason for its popularity more than just convenience? In fact, the current technology used for mobile payments is superior to that used by web payments and that is the most talked about topic in current times. This means that when you log in to your bank’s secure server on the mobile and use their mobile based application, you would experience better security than that compared to a computer. There are many reasons for this evolution and they are listed below –

Computers Are The Playground For Hackers – Thieves target computer based payment servers, and PCs that are run on operating systems provided by Microsoft (one of the most common providers) are the most hacked. Also, another point of importance is that computers tend to carry a lot of data and all this data becomes vulnerable to viruses sent by hackers to steal information.

money4In the past decade or so, online banking has been the most used mode by people and hackers have educated themselves on how to exploit this mode. They have explored every possible way to hack desktop computers in the last 15 years and have been successful as well. Online payments on computers have, thus, become vulnerable to such thefts.

Mobile Banking is Still New and Unexplored – As compared to online banking on computers, mobile payments are new. They have different operating systems and technologies. Viruses, spyware and malware are not that common yet because of different handset technologies.

Computers Seem Easier For Hackers – Computers are like “low hanging fruit,” and because of their vulnerability and the hackers’ comfort level, they are still more prone to being targeted than mobile phones. Mobile phones and mobile payments are not that attractive because of all the work that would be needed to be put in by hackers to learn the various nuances. Also, because the technological advancements in mobiles are faster than computers, every few months or so, old technology becomes obsolete and people move on towards newer and better things.

Better Encryption in Mobile Banking – As compared to online banking based on computers, mobile banking is much better encrypted. 3G and 4G come with a stronger level of encryption and are not open network sources like broadband internet. It is not possible to easily jump on to someone else’s 3G network whereas this situation is pretty common when it comes to broadband internet. Wi-Fi has made matters even simpler for hackers everywhere.

Additional Authentication Layers – Mobile banking comes with additional authentication layers that are absent in computer based banking. The account holder is required to authorize a transaction through a text message and sometimes, they need to call back for additional codes and this complexity, even though it seems simple to the user, adds more protection to mobile banking.

Mobile payments are surely here to stay as more and more apps are being added. As a word of caution, it is best to rely on only the trusted brands and payment apps when it comes to banking, no matter which one you prefer – computer or mobile. Not only is mobile banking infinitely more convenient, the above points clearly prove that it is much safer and people are soon going to adopt it as a regular mode of making payments.