Question

1. Review the following scenario found in the Hands-On Project 9-3 on page 498 of the textbook:

iPhone and Android phones both offer some kind of mobile payment service, which allows you to use your smartphone to pay for merchandise or services at a retail checkout counter. iPhone has Apple Pay, and Android uses Google Pay. Mobile payment services rely on NFC (Near Field Communication) technology to exchange financial information between your phone and the reader at the checkout counter. You might want to pay with a credit card stored on your phone or get discounts with a store rewards account reported by your phone as you check out. But how secure is your sensitive financial information?

2. Answer the following questions:
   • Research how mobile payment systems use NFC technology. How does NFC work? How can you activate NFC on an Android phone for making a payment with Google Pay? On an iPhone for making a payment with Apple Pay?
   • Find and read some articles online or watch videos that describe the details of storing financial information for mobile payment systems, accessing the information when needed, and transmitting the information securely. What security measures are in place? Where is the data actually stored? What information is actually transmitted at the point of transaction?
   • List three third-party mobile payment apps available either in Apple’s App Store or in Google’s Play Store. On which mobile OS versions will the apps work? What are advantages and disadvantages of each app? How much do the apps cost? What security measures do the apps use?
   • If you were to purchase one of these apps, which one would it be? Why?

Answer 1

How mobile payment system use NFC technology

The mobile payment system allowed the user to have pleasure of go-contactless payment. That was an initiative step from go-cashless. To understand this terminology lets have an example. You have an iPhone and the Apple Pay application. You save your credit card details onto your phone, and the application stores it . Later when you have to make a payment in a shop where the mobile payment readers are at register. Instead of using the credit card wallet you will use the Apple Pay application. There is a protocol which allows the transaction between the mobile and the Point-of-sale device when they are in a recognizable range. Some examples of NFC mobile payments are Apple Pay,Google Pay,Samsung Pay ,etc. The public transport card readers and touch payment terminals are daily life examples of NFC technology.

How does NFC work

NFC stands for Near Field Communication . NFC allows two nearby devices to communicate with each other when they are in close . It works on the principle of sending information with the use of radio waves.The older RFID technology serves as a base for NFC. In RFID electromagnetic induction was used to transmit information .

NFC uses a transmission frequency of 13.56 MHz. for data communication. The devices don't need to have physical contact. Just by hovering the smart phone or taping on it the communication can be made.The range of 2 inches or less is also needed . Within the specified frequency the NFC enabled reader and the smart phone will pass encrypted information to each other for the completion of the process.

NFC works in 3 modes peer to peer, read/write and card emulation.

How can you activate NFC on an Android phone for making a payment with Google Pay?

Download the Google Pay application.Give your phone number and sign in using your Google account.

Give the bank account details. Google may send a verification SMS with your permission. Enter the UPI PIN .

Send money to the person by finding them using name or phone number ,etc..

To activate NFC go to Settings , in Wireless and Network go to More . There we can find NFC option which can be activated. For this the O.S should be Kitkat 4.4 or higher.

On an iPhone for making a payment with Apple Pay?

Apple allows the NFC tags to be read and there is no native method yet. The iOS 11 allows iPhone7,8, and X to read the NFC tags. In the case of iPhone 6 and 6S , they can be used for NFC payments but can't read the tags.

What security measures are in place?

NFC payment protect financial data.

1. Proximity Protection ; since the devices will be closer while a transaction is taking place and NFC payments are really faster any other person won't be able to get the financial data

2.User Initiative            ; the user has to initiate the process. That's without user's permission transaction won't happen. In some application user is verified through finger print

3.Secured validation   ;the secure chip in the device/card ensure the security in transmitting data with digital signature