Posted by Charlie on 15 February 2012
Osama Bedier, who heads up the Google Wallet project, has announced that the system is suspending the use of pre-paid cards. This move comes as a blow to mobile phone users whose handsets operate on the Android platform, since there are currently only two ways for Google Wallet to load credit onto such devices. One is with the pre-paid card and the other is with a special Mastercard available only from Citibank.
Bedier took the move in response to concerns about the financial security measures inherent in Google Wallet. "To address an issue that could have allowed unauthorised use of an existing pre-paid card balance if someone recovered a lost phone without a screen lock, tonight we temporarily disabled provisioning of prepaid cards," commented Bedier in writing. "We took this step as a precaution until we issue a permanent fix soon."
Concerns about Google Wallet first arose in the middle of last week when zveloLABS, a security firm, revealed that a particular form of hacking attack could potentially uncover a user's PIN code. Earlier, it had become clear that it might be simple for hackers to also reset PIN codes. Either strategy would allow an attacker to drain the phone of all the pre-paid funds loaded onto it. According to Bedier, Google is taking affirmative steps in a bid to protect users against such attacks. He did add that it is better not to use Google Wallet with an Android phone that has been rooted.