With numerous high profile
hacks at major retailers during the past few years, credit and debit card fraud
in the U.S. is up 37.5% to $11 billion from 2012 to 2013 alone (Javelin
Strategy & Research). Additionally, annual cybercrime in the aggregate is
clocking in at around a whopping $100 billion, according to a study published
in 2013 and backed by well known computer security firm McAfee. Demand now
appears to be at an all-time high for innovative tech that can help address the
underlying causes. Furthermore, m-commerce is growing by leaps and bounds, as
smartphone and tablet proliferation continues to progress. This progression has
led Goldman Sachs to forecast that global mcommerce will climb some 206%
between 2014 and 2018, when it will reach $626 billion on the strength of some
535 million consumers worldwide using mobiles to make a purchase, or nearly the
same amount as all ecommerce sales during 2013 combined.
Even if m-commerce currently
makes up only around 1% of the $3.25 trillion dollar retail space here in the
U.S., m-commerce is nevertheless on track to grab half of all e-commerce by
2018 (GS) and its use is clearly growing at a rate which suggests that the
market for innovative tech needed to address the relevant security and
usability issues, is quite healthy, and Digi-Capital estimates of venture
capital inflows to the sector reinforce this outlook firmly. With some $4.2
billion injected by VCs between 2013 and 2014 according to Digi-Capital’s
estimates, a 250% jump over the 2013 figure and a more than 406% increase over
2011 and 2012 combined, there has been an explosion in mcommerce startup
activity. However, much of the money has poured into relatively tame m-commerce
juggernauts, who lack the innovative security technology needed to really
offset some of the major security vulnerabilities that will no doubt continue
to plague the sector.
Just the one look at the
sticker price on the Target (NYSE:TGT) hack, which compromised some 70 million
plus customer’s contact information and 40 million or so customer’s credit and
debit card data, whose upper limit was pegged at around $148 million by Target,
but is believed by some analysts to have reached $18 billion in the aggregate.
Financial institutions alone doled out some $200 million in response to the
Target hack, replacing cards and updating customer accounts, and Target
subsequently punched the button on a $100 million plan to roll out chip-based
credit card technology across its entire footprint as a result of the hack. The
breach at Michaels (NASDAQ:MIK) between 2013 and 2014, where the POS system was
compromised, led to 2.6 million payment cards being affected and the Home Depot
(NYSE:HD) breach, where malware was injected into their POS systems,
compromising some 56 million cards and costing HD some $62 million, both
illustrate how difficult the m-commerce security problem could become.
Ease of use is going to drive
m-commerce forward though, irrespective of the security issues, and TechNavio
sees the global space as growing at around a 32.23% CAGR through 2019, but it
will be up to innovators like Mobile Lads Corp. (OTC: MOBO) to plug the holes
in the dyke with mobile-based solutions like the xmVerify platform they market.
Because the xmVerify platform is a bundle of services which combines patented
real-time two-way mobile authentication with technologies that foster
personalized communication between businesses and their end users, it goes
above and beyond simply addressing the need for security, and actually helps
solidify businesses’ brand presence and increase their customer retention.
The xmVerify platform lets
users review, authenticate and authorize transactions in real-time and also
allows for the authorization of overdrafts (xmOverdraft), or increases to a
given line of credit, pairing a sophisticated transaction authorization system
that enables approval or denial securely from a web-enabled mobile device, with
a consumer authorization system that creates a two-way communications link
between the company and the customer. On-the-spot authorization meets
innovative dialogue enabling in this platform, and businesses are able to send
a variety of notices, or other timely data, directly to the customer as well,
while simultaneously thwarting digital fraud across both CNP (card not present)
and corporate purchase card approval payment types.
Better dialogue between the
bank and the customer is beneficial to both parties and a piece of technology
like xmOverdraft not only gives consumers the power to opt in for overdraft
protection, reassuring them with control over whether or not to permit an
overdraft fee, it increases their customer loyalty as well. At the same time,
such technology provides the bank or financial institution with an additional
chance to capture a transaction after the initial rejection has been made. The
added security of the customer being informed any time a CNP transaction is
attempted on their account and being subsequently given the choice to approve
or deny it, makes it so a thief would have to steal far more than just their
credit card data, they would also need the user’s mobile phone and their PIN
number. The end result of such improved security is lower fees for the end
users, because credit card companies, financial institutions and merchants have
lower costs when fraud is delimited effectively.
With the xmVerify transaction
authorization system, many online phishing schemes and other typical card theft
methodologies are actively, as well as passively, thwarted. Moreover, the
xmVerify platform’s use of one of the highest cryptographic standards in
existence today, which is also nearly universally compatible with all types of
mobile platforms in use, makes the m-commerce technology innovation a serious
contender when to comes to grabbing market share amid the continued growth of
the sector.
Learn more about this
up-and-comer by visiting www.mobilelads.com
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