Mobile Biometrics: The Future of Mobile Law Enforcement
Author: Eric Everson, Founder MyMobiSafe.com
If you find yourself strolling the Biometric Consortium Conference in Tampa, FL this week (Sept 23-25) you may want to make your way to booth 211. It is at this chic little display that Motorola has unveiled what some might consider a landmark entry in next-gen biometric technologies. At the display (primarily targeting law enforcement buyers) this little device is the latest plug-and-play tool for promoting the mobility requirements of police in the real world.
With regard to the mobile industry, this seems to be the first market ready biometric device introduced for a cellular handset. While this is a new technology, it could provide the gateway for promoting field fingerprinting and perpetrator identification into the future. As a mobile security advisor, I see an abundance of opportunity within the realm of biometric advancements in mobile handsets. The day may come where a biometric scan will become the standard for unlocking ones mobile phone for use. The days of low security four-digit passwords (yes, that’s an iPhone jab) are on the way out in favor of these next-gen biometric alternatives.
The number one concern most mobile users have regarding their handsets is the risk of their data in the hands of a stranger. If a handset is lost or stolen, in most cases we fail to have taken the preventive measures (at minimum locking the handset via the keypad). The introduction of mobile biometrics may represent a new wave of handset level protection for the mobile industry. While their remains a void in the current market for such built-in biometric components, this new device from Motorola proves the potential of such innovation to come.
As the founder of MyMobiSafe.com, the number one risk we have identified that threatens your mobile security is the lack of user prevention. Cell phone users continue to discount the computing power of their handsets, which continues to put millions at risk. I look for great advances in assuring handset level mobile security from mobile biometrics.
Your Mobile Security Watchdog,
Eric Everson
Eric Everson – Founder of MyMobiSafe.com
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Monday, May 5, 2008
Poor Mobile Banking
Poor Mobile Banking
By: Eric Everson, Founder MyMobiSafe.com
In reading the news this morning an interesting article from Fox Business News titled Mobile Banking to Transform Microfinance caught my eye. In short, the article discusses the capacity of mobile banking to penetrate the shortcomings of financial institutions as a vehicle of the poor. This article if nothing else makes me think that if mobile banking offers so much potential in terms of driving the flexibility of a mobile lifestyle, then why isn’t more being done to secure mobile banking?
As I’ve declared in the past, mobile banking’s greatest security vulnerability resides at the handset level. This means that the lack of security that most mobile handsets have lends them to incredible risk as a financial instrument. Lending from this article, how much more does targeting the lowest income demographics compound the security vulnerabilities that reside in mobile banking? By this statement I merely intend to suggest that this demographic is less likely to use the higher-end handset spectrum (which boasts better security) while they are also less likely to seek a third-party software to bolster the security shortcomings of their handsets.
The article suggests, “A new report from the global microfinance body CGAP predicts that, with the right market conditions, mobile banking could reach large numbers of poor people who are outside the formal financial system.” I do not actually disagree with this, but the issues becomes defining what comprise “the right market conditions” to truly penetrate mobile banking to such a traditionally technology adoption laggard demographic.
As a mobile security professional (with a business degree), I see a much greater need to focus on the handset level mobile security vulnerabilities that threaten the macroeconomics of mobile banking as a whole. If the overall environment of mobile banking is threatened by the gaping holes of handset level security coupled with the grave lack of handset interoperability across the global wireless industry, how will mobile banking ever gain the traction needed to become a standard conduit to the financial industry?
Let’s face it, mobile banking is a newer technology that has some major areas of opportunity with regards to security. As security is only as strong as the weakest link, mobile banking faces serious hurdles at the handset level.
Your mobile security guru,
Eric E
Eric Everson, Founder - MyMobiSafe.com
Article in Reference: http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/mobile-banking-transform-microfinance/
By: Eric Everson, Founder MyMobiSafe.com
In reading the news this morning an interesting article from Fox Business News titled Mobile Banking to Transform Microfinance caught my eye. In short, the article discusses the capacity of mobile banking to penetrate the shortcomings of financial institutions as a vehicle of the poor. This article if nothing else makes me think that if mobile banking offers so much potential in terms of driving the flexibility of a mobile lifestyle, then why isn’t more being done to secure mobile banking?
As I’ve declared in the past, mobile banking’s greatest security vulnerability resides at the handset level. This means that the lack of security that most mobile handsets have lends them to incredible risk as a financial instrument. Lending from this article, how much more does targeting the lowest income demographics compound the security vulnerabilities that reside in mobile banking? By this statement I merely intend to suggest that this demographic is less likely to use the higher-end handset spectrum (which boasts better security) while they are also less likely to seek a third-party software to bolster the security shortcomings of their handsets.
The article suggests, “A new report from the global microfinance body CGAP predicts that, with the right market conditions, mobile banking could reach large numbers of poor people who are outside the formal financial system.” I do not actually disagree with this, but the issues becomes defining what comprise “the right market conditions” to truly penetrate mobile banking to such a traditionally technology adoption laggard demographic.
As a mobile security professional (with a business degree), I see a much greater need to focus on the handset level mobile security vulnerabilities that threaten the macroeconomics of mobile banking as a whole. If the overall environment of mobile banking is threatened by the gaping holes of handset level security coupled with the grave lack of handset interoperability across the global wireless industry, how will mobile banking ever gain the traction needed to become a standard conduit to the financial industry?
Let’s face it, mobile banking is a newer technology that has some major areas of opportunity with regards to security. As security is only as strong as the weakest link, mobile banking faces serious hurdles at the handset level.
Your mobile security guru,
Eric E
Eric Everson, Founder - MyMobiSafe.com
Article in Reference: http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/mobile-banking-transform-microfinance/
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Mobile Security Guru
Most of you that follow my blogs know that I am “The Mobile Security Guru” at the ZDNet.co.uk blog site too. I have been a bit more diligent in keeping that blog updated, so feel free to check it out too.
http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,2000440756b,00.htm
http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,2000440756b,00.htm
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
