Apple plans to change how you pay for everything, but will your information be safe?
Digital Reporter
Sunday, September 14, 2014, 4:45 PM - Apple wants you to use your phone -- and even your watch -- to pay for your shopping. The tech company unveiled Apple Pay as part of its announcement of the iPhone 6, 6 Plus and Apple Watch. It sounds cool -- but is it safe and secure?
Since when is your wallet getting thinner a good thing? Welcome to the future, brought to you by Apple.
The new iPhone 6 has something called "Apple Pay" - which lets you store and use your credit cards just by scanning your phone.
The technology that sends your money from the phone to the register is called Near Field Communication (NFC). It's basically an antenna inside your phone that delivers short, encrypted radio waves with payment data -- and it's been around for a while.
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It's used on Google Wallet, PayPal and a few other services. But is it safe?
Well, it turns out that it's a lot safer than the credit cards we use today. And it's much harder to steal data with NFC.
But one thing: your phone doesn't give up your credit card number, it actually creates a one-time used code that gets approved by the bank for every transaction.
Analysts have already factored in Apple Pay's effect on mobile payment growth: https://t.co/Uf9KObjVMX pic.twitter.com/PtUWWUN8q3
— Bloomberg News (@BloombergNews) September 11, 2014
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And that CVV code on the back of your credit card -- that changes with every transaction too. So, even if hackers manage to hack their way into a store and grab this payment data, it's useless to them because each code can only be used once.
Plus, even if someone steals your phone, you can actually wipe all the credit cards off of it remotely. You can't do that with a wallet.
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If you lose the wallet, you have to call the bank with each and every card to cancel that card. So, while it may be difficult for celebrities like Kate Upton or Jennifer Lawrence to put trust in Apple right now...as it turns out, Apple Pay and NFC are much safer ways to pay in plastic.
Files from CNN
