Mobile banking far from secure: Report

The Newspoll survey, commissioned by Unisys, looked at the attitudes of Australians towards mobile devices and the means by which they can be used for payments.

At least half of the 1,201 adults surveyed believe that mobile phones and PDAs are either not at all secure or not very secure when it comes to paying bills, shopping or banking online.

Only five percent said they believed mobile phones and PDAs were very secure. Seventy-eight percent of those surveyed said they would not use a mobile device for transaction services.

Unisys said it was clear Australians would like more assurance that shopping, banking and paying bills from mobile devices was secure.

Twelve percent said they would consider using mobile devices for payments, while seven percent said they already do use mobile devices for payment.

Three percent were not capable of using a mobile device because they did not own one.

Alternatively, the report found using a fixed device proved to be a safer option than mobile devices with 36 percent of Australians saying they were very or extremely concerned about the security of shopping and banking online.

This was a concern that decreased by four percentage points from the previous Index in December 2007.

Meanwhile, only two percent of Australians said they believed online retailers provided the best security for payment services preferring banks and financial institutions.

Additionally, Unisys revealed that a top security concern for Australian remains identity theft and financial fraud with 59 percent of respondents saying they were extremely or very concerned about the unauthorised access to or misuse of personal information.

In equal value, 59 percent of those surveyed were extremely or very concerned about other people obtaining and or using their credit or debit card details without permission.

Finally, 38 percent of respondents were extremely or very concerned about computer security in relation to viruses and or unsolicited emails.

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