You know the scene. A lunch with friends is winding down at a sidewalk café. Your wallet is on the table, ready to pay the bill. Alongside it is your phone, displaying a map to your next appointment. Suddenly, a quick-footed hoodlum appears out of nowhere, reaches down, and grabs something from your table. Before you even look down you think: "what would be worse: losing my wallet or my phone?"
We're all pretty familiar with the lost wallet scenario -- frantic calls to the bank, cancellation of cards, urgent reviewing of transaction histories, adding up all the missing cash in your mind, etc. Not to mention the endless frustration as you spend weeks replacing credit cards, loyalty cards, frequent flier cards, student cards, drivers licenses, and family photos. According to the FTC the average identity fraud victim spends 30 hours and around $370 repairing the damage done to their credit.
But what if the thief passed on the wallet and went for the phone, instead? Consider the facts. According to ABI research, overall mobile commerce more than tripled from 2008 to 2009, reaching a total of 1.2 billion in total sales, illustrating the tremendous amount of personal information that passes through these devices. Given the extent to which we rely on mobile phones for shopping, access to email and contact lists, even e-commerce and banking accounts -- a stolen phone would seem to be the worse fate. Except that it is not. That's because, unlike a wallet, smartphones are smart about security.
Let's start with the basics: access. Most wallets don't lock: end-of-story. Phones do, in several ways. You can lock your phone so that it requires a password, or a PIN, or even a pattern on the screen. You can do this with the phone's built-in security features, or though an app. There are also apps that will disclose the location of the device, while reminding the user that the device is stolen. There are also apps that will secure your phone remotely, and even enable you to remotely wipe out personal information.
Another thing about phones: they aren't the wallet themselves. Unlike wallets, personal information isn't stored on the device, but in the cloud, protected by username and password logins. The phone is only an access point to your digital wallet. So even if those hoodlums have your phone, they won't have access to your bank account, store accounts, credit cards and money. Cloud-based data also means you won't have to replace anything (apart from the phone, of course). You just have to load your information onto your new phone.
With an estimated $700 million in mobile transactions projected to be handled by PayPal in 2010, mobile security is becoming increasingly important to us. Here are a few tips we recommend to help keep you safe while shopping with your mobile phone:
- Do make sure that you lock your phone. It's easy to do - a simple adjustment in the phone's setting page is all you need. The log-in is also easy--a PIN, a password, or a pattern.
- Set each account on your phone so that a log-in is required each time you access it.
- If you use proximity transactions such as NFC, ensure that the service you use provides notification via email and text. A good example is Bling Nation, which enables PayPal purchases via an NFC "Blingtag," including PayPal's email notification service.
- Use a password that is complex but easy for you to remember. Never save it somewhere that can potentially be accessed by another person.
- Ensure your credit card and account login information isn't stored in emails or notes on the phone.
- Use PayPal for mobile purchases for its substantial buyer protection policies.
In the best of all worlds, people are honest, lost phones are returned, and you don't part ways with your phone until you choose to upgrade. Until then, taking a few easy steps, you can rely on your digital wallet and access via your phone that is more secure than any piece of leather can be.