Mobile Banking, a security issue?

Roughly one of every five Americans used their mobile phone for some sort of banking activity last year, and about the same proportion say they will probably use mobile banking in the future, a recent survey from the Federal Reserve found.

But many consumers still don’t see the need for mobile banking, and many also are skeptical of the level of security around banking with their phone, the survey found. Among users of mobile phones who haven’t yet adopted mobile banking, about half said they were “concerned” about security, the survey found.

“Specifically, consumers expressed concerns about hackers gaining access to their phones and exposing their personal financial information,” Sandra F. Braunstein, director of the Fed’s division of consumer and community affairs, told the Senate banking committee last month, according to testimony posted on the Fed’s Web site. She referred to the survey in her report.

Roughly one-third of all mobile phone users reported that they did not know how secure mobile banking technology was, while an additional third rated the technology unsafe, she said. Those concerns must be addressed, Ms. Braunstein said, if more consumers are to feel confident adopting the new technology.

The most common use of mobile banking is checking balances or recent transactions, along with transferring money between accounts, the report found.

Mobile payments — actually paying a bill with a phone — isn’t as prevalent yet, with one in eight survey participants reporting that they made a mobile payment in the previous 12 months — usually, paying a bill online using their phone. Users of mobile payments are disproportionately under 45, and Hispanic.

Is anything stopping you from using mobile banking?

Your mobile phones know where you are, and so do the authorities.

Remember that iPhone prototype that was left at the bar? Analysis those happenings has been done and at the heart of the situation is technology that affects most of us. That prototype was traced to a bar and then to a private home, proving that the device was tracking every move it (and the person carrying it) made. This isn’t a special feature of the prototype, it is something that all smartphones and tablets are doing all the time.

Location-based services are a cool use of mobile technology, as they can add benefits to the user not otherwise possible. You see that every time you run a search on your smartphone and have pertinent local information returned. This is possible due to the fact that your mobile device, smartphone or tablet, is tracking your whereabouts all the time.

There are three levels of tracking that take place: devices with GPS can pinpoint your location with great accuracy; cellular-equipped devices can use the carrier’s signal towers to locate you with decent accuracy; Wi-Fi devices can use hotspot information to locate you, although you must be actively connected to be located. Any one of these methods are sufficient for those wishing to see where you are, especially without you knowing they are watching.

Government watchdogs have been quietly using this method of surveillance for years, and have been called out by privacy organizations for it. The U. S. Justice Department and local law enforcement agencies have been able to get judges to order carriers to turn over location information about parties of interest, without probable cause of any kind. It is a way to mark a party’s every movement without a search warrant.

A recent court ruling may be turning off the easy tap that authorities have come to use for surveillance. Authorities have been able to use this easy access to location information without warrants because courts have previously ruled that agencies do not need to disclose what data is being obtained nor what was done with it. That may stop with this ruling that says authorities must reveal what data was used against those convicted of a crime.

This ruling is the result of the ACLU pushing the courts for clarification of how location data is obtained and used. Catherine Crump, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union who argued the case, sums up the situation:

“I highly doubt that the 90 percent of Americans who carry cell phones thought that when they got cellphone service they were giving up their privacy in their movements.”

Cell phones are only one piece of the mobile tracking puzzle, with some laptops and most tablets like the iPad also using location as a feature. Those concerned about the information being tracked can turn off location features in the settings for most phones and tablets. Be aware that carriers still track that information if they are involved, as they are with phones and tablets with 3G/4G service.

In-air cell phone communication?

Mobile use is currently prohibited on planes because there is evidence that they interfere with onboard communication and navigation systems. 


The proposed system utilises an on-board base station in the plane which communicates with passengers' own handsets. The base station - called a pico cell - is low power and creates a network area big enough to encompass the cabin of the plane. 


The base station routes phone traffic to a satellite, which is in turn connected to mobile networks on the ground. 


A network control unit on the plane is used to ensure that mobiles in the plane do not connect to any base stations on the ground. It blocks the signal from the ground so that phones cannot connect and remain in an idle state. 


Calls will be billed through passengers' mobile networks. 

Classrooms moving beyong the whiteboard

Some schools are already in the process of moving on from the technologically advanced interactive whiteboards that can be found in multiple classrooms today.


Science lessons for the girls at the Abbey School in Reading have never been so exciting since Kathryn Macaulay, director of ICT, introduced 3D projectors and glasses into the school.
Now learning about how the heart works can be done in a far more hands-on way as body parts almost literally jump out of the screen.
"It is one of the most successful pilots of IT we have had for a long time," said Ms Macaulay.
The projector looks very like the standard ones found in most schools other than the fact that it contains a 3D chip from DLP, a division of Texas Instruments.


Pupils involved in the 3D programme saw a 35% jump in their grades, according to the study.
For those schools who cannot afford to invest in new 3D projectors, mobile can do a similar job said Kieron Kirkland, a researcher at Futurelab, a not-for-profit organisation which creates tools for 21st century learning.


Tim Rylands is a good example of a leading edge teacher. He now advises schools about their use of technology and warned against getting too excited about what technology can achieve.
"Teachers have laptops that are straining to do their job while others have whiteboards that they can only use in the months of December and January when the sun has gone down," he said.
For those teachers, like Mr Rylands, who have developed great technology resources there has not been any good way to share them with others.


Here, lessons can be learned from Apple and the phenomenal success of its apps store, thinks Mr Wainewright.
"I think we will see educational app stores for teachers to share resources and make a bit of money for their efforts," he said.


Whatever shapes the school of the future will take it would be a disaster if it became all about the technology, said Mr Wainewright
"I would hate to see a school where technology was all people did. There has to be a balance between using technology and picking up a paintbrush.

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