NFC SIM cards raise security fears

Smartphone manufacturers are racing against one another to develop NFC (near-field communications) phones, which will rise from less than 10% currently, to over 50% in two to three years, DigiTimes reports.

SIM-based NFC, promoted by the GSM Association, won support from 45 mobile telecoms carriers around the world, including AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Orange, Vodafone, Telefonica, Deutsche Telekom, Korea Telecom, Bharti Airtel, China Mobile and China United Network Communications, to become the mainstream NFC standard.

Extreme Tech says while the adoption rate of services like Google Wallet is going to climb because of the sheer numbers of enabled devices, there are security concerns around SIM cloning.

The ease of which this is achieved is startling, and raises questions about the security of an NFC chip embedded in a SIM.

American Banker explains that a number of banks have also been testing microSD-driven mobile payments.

A patent application that was approved recently suggests Apple is developing tech that would reverse the SIM card model by placing the SIM inside the embedded secure element, which puts Apple in control of the unit and cuts operators away from the payments relationship.