NFC Technology for Payment

4 Major Security Concerns

The newer field communication, NFC payment technologies have become increasingly popular. The people in the United Kingdom have widely used this technology even though the United States citizens have become reluctant in implementing the technology. In more recent times, this technology has also been widely used among the individuals in Europe, Canada and even in Australia.

The technique is used this wide since it is believed to be more secure following the better security features it possesses. However, it should be well understood that everything that has the best sides are sought by the other harming groups in various ways, mainly when it deals with finances. Therefore, this application tends to have issues with security too. Some of the major security issues facing this payment platform include the following:


This has been the very first threat to the NFC payment technology ever since. The contactless payment process has suffered dramatically from the criminal listening in on the transactions made by the NFC.

Contrary to the handing over of cash amounts to the store, the nature of the making of the NFC payments would imply that the terminals and the payment devices tend to transmit electronic information. The data, in this case, can be used negatively by thugs and fraudsters to confirm some private information concerning the customers or the users of the device.

It could use the bank details form and even the data which is required for the simple identity theft such as the email addresses and also the user’s names. The air interface signals capture as a feature of the NFC is very prone to eavesdropping.

To solve this issue, one needs to use only the channels which are strictly secure to make payments. Such circuits will tend to encrypt the information to only give room for the authorized gadget to decode it at the time of transactions.

General Theft

Theft is one thing one needs to run away from when it comes to matters fiancés and information. In the past year alone, almost over two and half million Americans have reported cases of smartphone thefts. In the history of theft, it is recorded that if one were the victim of such circumstances, it would be very annoying, but it cannot change your life.

In case one was diligent, his or her messages, photos and even contacts, as well as other valuable information, would have been stored up in the cloud to the extent that you don’t lose anything.  Nevertheless, with the increasing NFC contactless payment applications prevalence today, the situation can be different. You can use the passwords to protect your phone as well as your payment application to ensure that you do not expose the applications to theft.


The Interception Attacks

With the utilization of the NFC technology for payments, one becomes very vulnerable to interception attacks, which work similarly as the man-in-the-middle-attacks. In such attacks, the hacker gets the data from one end of the device, changes it and passes it to the target recipient of the information.

This issue tends to be negligible with the usage of the NFC technology for payment, but it cannot be ruled out. This is because hackers can only be successful in this way in case the two gadgets are actively in function mod. If one of them is not active, there is no simultaneous reception and sending of information.

As such, the technique here works ones in a while and needs proper timing.  This issue can be solved by allowing the NFC to be off in all the situations, especially when it is not in use. You should also; leave the device in passive mode in case the NFC payment technology is enabled. This can help in the blockage of accidental active to active pairing by hackers.


Use of Outdated Apps

The NFC, countless payment technology, is made possible via applications. The technology is a hardware which is located within the smartphone or even the tablet. However, it is an operating system or an individual application that tends to dictate the usage of the technology.

These applications need to be updated just like other applications on the phones to keep them safer. It should be understood that the latest applications will offer the best and latest features which one of them may be a proper protection plan. To solve the issue of security that comes by using applications which are not up to date, you should ensure that your gadget has an automatic update for all apps.


The Bottom Line

The NFC is not a magic bullet that will ensure that all the insecurity issues that deal with your finances are solved. Therefore, you have to be vigilant and play your part well while using technology. Make sure that you are aware of the above risks to keep you updated on what you can expect while using the platform to make payments.