The fact that they've already had a data breach within the first week or so of launch is not exactly a strong argument for how secure their platform is.
I'm sure this is directly connected to the outrage at NFC payments being disabled in CVS, etc. - effectively, they've become a target.
If they weren't a target because of the NFC stuff then they would have become a target because they're a payment platform. The only difference is probably how quickly the hack happened (or how public it became). If it had been the Chinese or Russians they possibly would have just pilfered and sold personal data.
They're not just supposed to be a payments provider. They're going to ask people to actually link their bank accounts so that the merchants don't have to pay credit card fees.
Hacking as retribution for personal data mining? Not likely. Sounds like an opportunity to get details from a financial transaction application while it's still green.
and the best bit -- the very best bit -- is should you be so stupid as to trust these idiots, you provide them direct access to your bank account. So when these morons donate your data to some smart hackers, instead of your credit cards getting drained, your checking account balance vanishes. It's not entirely clear what protections you have in that case.
Tell your friends and family not to be stupid -- never use a payment method on the internet besides a credit card. It's really simple: by law, you have no more than $50 liability for a fraudulent credit card transaction, vs $500 for a debit card. Plus in the former case, no money vanishes from your checking account, while in the latter, it may take several weeks for your money to come back. And while you are protected, in theory, under nacha rules and regulation E from liability for fraudulent ach transfers, you may still be out the money for a very long time while you fight with your bank. Here's a useful summary: http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/1023728/m15101053/#m...
You don't have protections. With MCX + CurrentC, the customer is liable for all fraud.
These idiot executives in MCX are so blind in their zeal to track customers everywhere, they never stopped to think of how reckless it is to make the customer liable.
> These idiot executives in MCX are so blind in their zeal to track customers everywhere, they never stopped to think of how reckless it is to make the customer liable.
Do you mean reckless or potentially lucrative? My god! suddenly we don't have to eat fraud from credit card transactions (in increasingly large amounts come 2015 when liability gets pushed down to merchants by the card companies). They get extra customer data AND reduced liability. Sounds perfect.
Apple won't ever admit it, but I'm sure they're loving this turn of events. Having potential competitor stumble before it's even launched is great publicity.
CurrentC managed to piss off both iOS Users and Android Users + they are a payments platform. I don't know if you could paint a larger target on your back for blackhats.
That said, they're supposed to be a payments provider. They should be able to cope with being a target.