It’s funny how the supposed secure RFID chips on credit cards are less secure than the magnetic stripe cards are. According to Chase Bank and American Express, the chips are built with 128-bit encryption and Triple-DES (Data Encryption Standard) protecting the data on the chip. Furthermore, the chips, theoretically, send a unique, single-use code with each transaction that does not match the number on the card (Johnson, 2009). And now wallets are available at Amazon that contains shields within your wallet preventing the reading of the card chips by portable readers of RFID chips.
Part of the problem with fighting computer criminals is that once companies have developed the means to fight the latest virus or DoS attack, computer criminals have developed another way to attack. Anti-virus software is only as good as the last known virus. A computer virus, phishing scams, Trojan horses, and DoS (Denial of Service) is used to get information, prevent the use of your computer, gather the information that can be used illegally or sold for illegal use. The biggest threat to computer security has been found to be the user. In the early days, users would write their passwords on a sticky note and post it on their monitors. You may laugh at this notion, but it’s very true. The problem with fighting computer crime is the inability of many people to understand that they’re being spammed or phished. They download a file containing a Trojan horse virus thinking it’s from their best friend, or they’re gullible enough into believing that their child, who is standing next to them, is badly injured in a Nigerian hospital and needs emergency help. The file they download carries a code that will allow their computer to be used in a vast network of other computers to infect many more computers. These computers provide enough power to cause heavy-duty denial-of-service attacks on many well-known companies or government services (Brumfield, 2015)
Grameen Koota set up micro-finance and is part of Grameen Bank in Bangalore, India. It provides small loans to poor or low-income clients. One of the problems that Grameen Koota was trying to bridge by developing a mobile loan and payment system was the inability of the poor to grow their way out of poverty. They didn’t have access to the means of capital they needed to provide even for necessities of life. Grameen Koota had a desire to grow their business. Since business and government were unwilling to set up the needed infrastructure due to the heavy costs of that infrastructure, and the people had a need, and the people owned the means; an abundance of cell phones, the opportunity to provide easy banking and financial services presented itself (Turban, 2012).
M-Pesa has been providing mobile banking and micro-financing to poor, underdeveloped areas of Africa; Kenya, and Tanzania since 2009, and that has since spread to India and Afghanistan. Many people with just a simple flip phone can apply for and receive loans as small as $100.00 to finance providing electricity to their homes using solar-powered generators. And the system allows the borrower to pay the bank using the phone. Grameen Koota had a problem with providing loans when it came time to collect payment; his collectors became victims of armed robberies while returning to the bank with the day’s receipts. One can only imagine the immensity of such a change to a rural area that has never had electricity. And the ability to be able to communicate directly with buyers anywhere in the world, versus just in their local area, allowing these people to sell their products allows them to work their way out of poverty and live a better life (Mutiga, 2014).
References:
Brumfield, J. (2015, April 13). Verizon 2015 Data Breach Investigations Report – About Verizon
Enterprise Solutions. Retrieved from http://news.verizonenterprise.com/2015/04/2015-data-
breach-report-info
Johnson, J. (2009, September 30). RFID Credit Cards and Theft: Tech Clinic. Retrieved from
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/security/how-to/a1142/4206464/
Mutiga, M. (2014, January 20). Kenyaâ’s Banking Revolution Lights a Fire – The New York Times.
Turban, E. (2012). Electronic commerce 2012: A managerial and social networks perspective. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.