Start the conversation
Comment on This Story
Or to contact Money Morning Customer Service, click here.
Imagine checking in at the airport, buying a cup of coffee at a local café, even paying for your clothes or groceries at the store's register... all with a quick wireless scan of your smartphone.
It's all possible today, thanks to a new type of tech called Near Field Communications (NFC).
No coins to fumble with. No waiting while the store's machine dials up your bank. No receipts to sign and then stuff into your pocket. The spread of NFC technology is a win-win for the customer and the merchant alike.
With NFC, your phone becomes your wallet. It's able to "talk" to any vendor, bank, brokerage, or credit card firm you like. This technology is set to take the world by storm.
In as little as a decade, billions of people around the world will convert to digital currency as their means of paying for the things they need every day.
There's just one thing slowing it all down right now - mobile security.
Using mobile phones as de facto wallets alarms some people. They fear that if your phone gets stolen, thieves could gain access to every bank, brokerage, or store account you have.
But that's about to change...
Making Digital Money Bulletproof
Indeed, much to the chagrin of thieves and con artists, mobile security will hasten the advent of bulletproof digital money used around the world.
I had the chance to talk about this with Michael Saylor, author of the best-selling new book "Mobile Wave: How Mobile Intelligence Will Change Everything." Saylor, who also serves as CEO of MicroStrategy Inc. (NASDAQgs:MSTR), told me alarmists are missing the big picture:
In fact, there are three key security features Saylor believes will make mobile commerce the standard of safe business transactions in just a few years.
Mobile Security Feature No. 1: Fingerprint Scanning
Fingerprint tech is a standard security feature around the world. It works because no two people - not even identical twins - have the same fingerprints.
Believe it or not, fingerprinting is actually pretty old. It began in eighth-century Japan. But this ancient approach to security is about to get a big upgrade.
Since many smartphones have touch-sensitive screens, by definition, they work with your fingertips.
All we need to do is convert that screen into a scanner that takes the place of a password. That way, it only works for you. If you lose your phone or someone steals it, the device goes dead.
That's probably why Apple Inc. (Nasdaq:AAPL) just spent $356 million to buy AuthenTec, a mobile network security firm. The journal ZDNet says AuthenTec's sensors are state of the art in touch-based security.
"These fingerprint swipe sensors use a patented sub-surface technology to read the live layer of skin beneath the skin's surface where the fingerprint is first formed," according to the author of the ZDNet article. This makes them "much harder to fool than traditional fingerprint sensors."
Many tech experts believe this acquisition signals that Apple will soon employ fingerprint scans in both the iPhone and the iPad.
Mobile Security Feature No. 2: Eye Scans
The public already has a good sense of how this works. We saw it featured in the popular James Bond film "GoldenEye" from 1995 and the first "Mission: Impossible" that came out a year later, as well as 2002's "Minority Report." In that film, Tom Cruise's character John Anderton undergoes a back-alley eye transplant operation to evade the ever present eye scanners of the authorities.
Right now we have two main ways to scan the eyes.
The first is to focus on the retina, the round tissue in the back of your eye that contains a "screen" of cells that respond to light. That annoying "red eye" effect you see in bad photos is actually the camera capturing the retina when the bright flash goes off too fast for the pupil to close.
Saylor notes that the retina serves to "pre-process images," adding that scientists actually consider it a part of the brain.
Scanning the retina works to establish identity because it has a pattern of blood vessels unique to each person.
The second way we have of establishing identity via the eye is the iris - the colored ring around the pupil. It's a jumble of patterns. See, no two are alike. Even the iris in your left eye differs from the one in your right.
"The New York Police Department uses iris scans when booking suspects," said Saylor. "The city of Leon, Mexico, deploys iris scanners in crowded public spaces, where they can identify up to 50 people at once."
Mobile Security Feature No. 3: Voice Recognition
Most investors already know about voice recognition. They've seen it for decades in TV shows like the original "Star Trek" and in the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey."
In 2012, speech recognition tech has quickly been gaining ground. Apple uses it as a digital voice assistant named Siri that's in the most recent version of the iPhone. So millions of people already have a sense that voice tech is the wave of the future.
But Saylor rightly draws a sharp contrast between speech and voice recognition. The latter is based on the fact that each person's voice is distinct.
"Voice recognition doesn't try to figure out what you say," Saylor explained, "it tries to determine if the voice is actually yours. The software to identify your voice exists and would be an easy addition to the array of identity techniques available to mobile devices."
As I see it, these features and others that might appear later can greatly increase both business and personal security. And there's no reason why you can't blend several of them together - say, an eye scan with voice recognition - to provide deeper safeguards.
In the future, you'll have all sorts of biometric security features that will protect your assets and your identity. All of them can both protect corporate assets and empower the individual.
Finally, these same features could also exist inside your PC or even in different rooms within your home to give you a total security package.
We're not far from the day when ordinary folks will be able to defeat even the smartest hacker around, just by touching or looking into their phone's screen.
And it's all because the world is going mobile.
Related Articles and News:
- Money Morning:
The Future Belongs to Apple's iPad - Money Morning:
The "Mobile Wave" is So Huge America Will Literally Be Reborn - Money Morning:
Six Ways to Win Big on Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) New iPhone 5 - Money Morning:
Breakthrough Tech Lets Users Surf the Web With Just Their Eyes
About the Author
Michael A. Robinson is a 36-year Silicon Valley veteran and one of the top tech and biotech financial analysts working today. That's because, as a consultant, senior adviser, and board member for Silicon Valley venture capital firms, Michael enjoys privileged access to pioneering CEOs, scientists, and high-profile players. And he brings this entire world of Silicon Valley "insiders" right to you...
- He was one of five people involved in early meetings for the $160 billion "cloud" computing phenomenon.
- He was there as Lee Iacocca and Roger Smith, the CEOs of Chrysler and GM, led the robotics revolution that saved the U.S. automotive industry.
- As cyber-security was becoming a focus of national security, Michael was with Dave DeWalt, the CEO of McAfee, right before Intel acquired his company for $7.8 billion.
This all means the entire world is constantly seeking Michael's insight.
In addition to being a regular guest and panelist on CNBC and Fox Business, he is also a Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer and reporter. His first book Overdrawn: The Bailout of American Savings warned people about the coming financial collapse - years before the word "bailout" became a household word.
Silicon Valley defense publications vie for his analysis. He's worked for Defense Media Network and Signal Magazine, as well as The New York Times, American Enterprise, and The Wall Street Journal.
And even with decades of experience, Michael believes there has never been a moment in time quite like this.
Right now, medical breakthroughs that once took years to develop are moving at a record speed. And that means we are going to see highly lucrative biotech investment opportunities come in fast and furious.
To help you navigate the historic opportunity in biotech, Michael launched the Bio-Tech Profit Alliance.
His other publications include: Strategic Tech Investor, The Nova-X Report, Bio-Technology Profit Alliance and Nexus-9 Network.
There is and will always remain flaws in any security systems; they are designed and implemented by humans and therefore they can be broken or corrupted by other humans. This includes the coming sophisticated biometric based digital security systems described in your article. Crooks including insiders will figure out how to capture individual's biometric data and impersonate them to steal into their accounts.
Yes, this will happen. No, it is not a good idea. Yes, the hackers and other thieves will make hash of it. Yes, the underlying base statement that security for this will be "bulletproof" is so false as to be phony. Yes, if technology can develop it, technology can defeat it. No, bateries never go dead in cash.
Great, and when the first EMP pulse or X class CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) comes along and wipes out all electronic devices all trade will come to a halt, and people will have to resort to bartering for goods and services…
This type of money transfer is already widespread in Africa and elsewhere. Sophisticated infrastructure isn't in place but the mobile phone links are a vital conduit for money transfer and limited commerce.
I'm going to say something now which will make you think I am mad. It needs to be said by someone, if just for you to consider.
My concern is with the drift away from democracy in all the old democracies. Those in power "know whats best for you." What suits them best is more like it !
Now, coming soon is the "cashless society" using tools such as those mentioned here.
It will mean every time it is switched on or used, the powers that be will record every transaction and purchase as well as being able to track all your movements.
Should you become an irritation to these authorities, why, nothing would be easier than to 'switch you off.'
What are you going to do now, you can't even buy a tin of beans?
TrapWire.
Looks as though I was getting ahead of myself.
If you live in America you'd better 'Google' up TrapWire!
Coming to other countries soon !
TrapWire.
If you live in America, you'd better Google up TrapWire.
Coming to a country near you soon !
Looks like I was ahead of myself there!
Gentlemen,
My extreme compliments to all of you. I am very pleased with your information. A very recent
example was the terrific growth in GLPYY. In less than two weeks we are up 18%. Your info
is the most professional and the results back it up.
Thank you,
David G.