Over the past decade, mobile money– defined as the revolutionizing technology enabling payments made for a wide range of products or services through a mobile device- has witnessed ubiquitous acceptance. Mobile money does not require the user to carry along anything but just their smart device and thus, it has completely revolutionized financial access globally, especially for the unbanked. Also, it has cut down the number of belongings one needs to carry along everywhere.
The mobile money revolution
Mobile money has showcased a very isolated progress till date, but the innovation rates to improve the scenario are quickening. As per the industry experts, mobile money had initiated very low, particularly during the years 2000 and 2005 as then, the scope and in turn, the acceptance of mobile payments was significantly limited. Since the year 2005, there has been manifold increase in the number of mobile wallet subscriptions, mobile money usage as well as mobile banking. Mobile money has come a long way ahead and now a significant fraction of people have used mobile money at least once and an increasing number of those users have accepted mobile money for their day to day transactions and money transfers. Behind this major uptake, relies on the paced proliferation of the mobile devices.
Over all, while we can unhesitatingly state that mobile money has become a norm now. However, certain concerns, especially around security, still linger. Undoubtedly, security has always been the priority for the consumers executing any transaction and it will continue to remain the same ever-after. Similarly, for the mobile payment service providers, the secure execution of transactions carried out by its consumers and the security of stored user data, avoiding spam or phishing is always a priority as it is a significant decisive factor for its ROI.
Technologies improve safety
The robust security of mobile money transactions and user data is followed by a wide acceptance of mobile money applications. The boundaries of mobile payment security are being made stronger day after day in this regards and the deployment of an intangible, robust security framework for mobile financial solutions and their security is awaited to completely eliminate frauds and help the consumers gain trust over the convenience provided.
Accessing information like bank details from the mobile devices has become quite a common practice now as mobile money progressed well during the past years. This has become more secure, but primarily this takes place as a result of enhanced security measures on the bank’s side, which continue to increase their security level owing to the fact that they continue being targeted by the hackers. Applications for mobile money have also increased their protocols.
Approaches to mobile money security
Typically, the mobile money service providers embrace a multi-dimensional approach to mobile money. They initially focus on the system, the access platforms following which they target the transactions and the application. The initial and most important aspect-system security- includes various measures such as 3DES encryption and access abstraction. For access security, while some of them require fingerprint scanning to gain access to one’s user account; the others demand input a preset PIN code each time using the application. OTP-based authorizations, MSISDN and PKI have also become popular for security of mobile money transactions. Lastly, application security is ensured with configurable KYC, adherence to AML requirements, masking the critical data and anti-phishing measures.
The worldwide acceptance of mobile money entirely depends on the advancement of security measures. The service providers have no other means than robustly securing mobile money applications to shell out revenue with the offering. The consumers need to be assured that their money and financial details are in safe hands. There is no alternate route through which the mobile money service providers can gain the confidence of the consumers in order to increase its uptake.
