87% of global cyber experts say mobile payments breaches will grow in the next year

The number of mobile payments services are exploding and competition is intense to bring down the barriers to payment. But experts are concerned about how secure these services really are.



A survey of 900 cybersecurity experts by global industry association ISACA found 87% of respondents believe there will be an increase in data breaches in the next year.

The cost of these breaches can be immense. A recent Allianz report found that last year’s breach of credit card information at Target cost the company over 100 million dollars. The data of tens of millions of customers was compromised in that hack. 

But while that was a sophisticated hack on Target’s payment terminals, the biggest threat to mobile payments appears to be the users themselves. All of the top threats outlined by survey respondents have to do with user error or behaviour.

 The solution to these problems? The top answers were: force users to create longer and more complex passwords and use two-factor authentication.