One of many ‘next big things’ in the world of technology is the prospect of soon being able to use your mobile phone as a way to pay for things in the real world. The vision of replacing your wallet or purse with a mobile phone capable of handling all of your payment requirements is not a new one. But with smartphones such as
Samsung's Galaxy Nexus now being equipped with near-field communication (NFC) hardware – and financial institutions working closely with network operators on infrastructure – it looks like that dream will soon, finally, be realised on a broad scale.
But while NFC technology is making its way slowly onto smartphones, it's already widely used in so-called ‘contactless’ cards; many banks currently issue debit and credit cards with integrated RFID chips, allowing users to make payments for relatively small amounts without needing to go through the hassle of entering a PIN or providing a signature for authorisation. This week, the UK’s
Channel 4 News revealed how easy it is to ‘steal’ data from these contactless cards, “using nothing more than an ordinary [NFC-capable] smartphone, and some specially-designed – but devastatingly simple – software”.
Sources.
