Feature Articles

Secure Your NFC Experience

By Wong Casandra - 7 Feb 2013

Secure Your NFC Experience

Secure Your NFC Experience

To safeguard against unauthorised access, SmartWallet has a 30-second time-out for each NFC payment transaction, and will close automatically if left idle for two minutes.

Digital payment and security - these two go hand-in-hand. What if you lose your NFC SIM card/device? What exactly is stored on your NFC card and device? We answer some of these commonly asked questions related to NFC payment and security:


1.  What kind of information is stored on the NFC SIM card?

Customers should be assured that only necessary information will be stored on the NFC secure element on your NFC SIM card.

For example, the secure element on StarHub's NFC SIM card contains transaction history, information about your NFC payment cards and your security pass code. On the other hand, only non-sensitive information, like downloads of virtual coupons, generated by StarHub's SmartWallet app is stored on your handset; payment information is not stored on your handset. 


2. Are there any security measures in place to protect data?

Generally, all the mobile apps for NFC payment across three telcos typically come with a six-digit security passcode protection and time-out sessions for NFC payment transactions to safeguard against unauthorized access. This is apparent in both M1 NFC Wallet and StarHub Smart Wallet apps.

Singtel has mentioned that it will further enhance the security aspect by implementing additional security features for the mobile wallet services that will be launching in the near future.
 

3. What's the next step if you lose your device or NFC SIM card? 

As per existing lost or stolen credit card reporting procedures, you should call the respective payment card issuer(s) or bank(s) to inform them to disable the various NFC payment cards and block unauthorized payments. If the phone is still connected to the mobile operator’s network, the banks can also perform an over-the-air termination of NFC payment applications on the phone.

Additionally, you should call your respective telco providers to terminate any NFC-related services. Do note that once your NFC SIM card is lost, you have to pay the SIM card and service activation fees to get a new one. 
 

4. What if I change to a new device?

Head down to your telco provider's customer service. The NFC SIM card and the information stored in it can be easily transferred to another NFC-enabled handset that is certified for secure NFC payment services.

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