Yes, as we know it, the world is becoming full of mobile apps. You name it, there is a mobile app for something.  It seems like that every day, there are literally hundreds of new mobile apps coming out every day, in just about every type and kind of industry. Heck, even the Federal Government is making heavy usage. A popular example of this is the is the “Where Is My Refund” status on the Internal Revenue Service website.

Well, rather than logging onto the IRS website each and every time (and very often it is slow because of the millions of tax payers wanting to check the refund status all at the same time), you can log into their mobile app straight from your iPhone or Samsung/Windows wireless device and get your refund status almost immediately.

Well, in today’s blog, we talk about the Mobile Payment Providers.  These are the actual software developers that develop the mobile apps specifically for the mobile wallet infrastructure.

From the perspective of the Mobile Applications Payment Providers

This is the entity that actually creates the mobile app for the Mobile Wallet.  As mentioned, this is what gets downloaded onto the Smartphone of the end user, and from there, the credit number is entered.

After that, the process is then initiated to confirm the identity of the end user.  From this perspective, there are a number of Security threats and vulnerabilities as well, which include:

  • The compromising of the user profile:

This type of attack can typically occur during the verification process as just described.  For example, a Cyber attacker can enroll a stolen credit card into either Google Wallet or Apple Pay, and from there, maliciously gain access to the user profile of the actual credit card holder, and from there, manipulate any of the confidential information of the end user.

  • A direct hit on the token creation services:

As it was described previously, this is usually outsourced to an independent third              party.  But, a Mobile Applications Payment Provider can also implement this service into their own infrastructure if they wish too.  But where ever it is done, the token creation services are a huge target for the sophisticated Cyber attacker. The primary reason for this is that it is here where the Cyber attacker manipulate the processes which encrypt and decrypt the tokens, as well as its integrity and availability.

  • The traditional DDoS attacks:

It has often thought that the Cyber attacker just hits on servers in order to totally incapacitate them.  But, DDoS attacks can happen just about anywhere now, even the Mobile Wallet Infrastructure.  In this regard, the primary objective is to hit the servers of the Mobile Applications Payment Provider so that all Mobile Wallet payments become disrupted, and as a result, they cannot be processed.

In tomorrow’s blog, we talk about the specific threats to Apple Pay.  Stay tuned!!