"As the near field communication (NFC) environment evolves, the industry continues to monitor and advance its understanding of new ways in which mobile devices, such as smartphones, can be hacked. With an increasing number of sensitive services going ‘mobile’, such as identity, wallets or corporate applications, the consequences of a malicious party hacking an individual’s mobile device to source personal or corporate data could be serious.
Achieving the highest level of security - without compromising usability and within a framework that meets the commercial limitations and technical requirements of the diverse NFC community - is a key challenge for the industry. It is also a priority, as any security breaches at this stage of implementation could discourage adoption and have a devastating impact on the industry.
NFC stakeholders must understand their liabilities, undertake a risk assessment, seek clarity on areas of responsibility and investigate ways to confidently optimise security. A ‘security chain’ needs to be created. Each actor engaged in the NFC sector has a role to play in completing the security chain, which will mitigate known and envisaged vulnerabilities."
