Near Field Communications (NFC)

TASK: So many people now use their phones as their wallets. Either by enabling say Apple or Google pay or just keeping their payment cards in the sleeve they use to protect the phone. Payment cards, and your phone, use Near Field Communication (NFC) chips to ‘speak’ to the little box that you tap when paying for your goods. The range on these devices is low, say sub one meter down to a few centimeters so you need to get close to someone to be attacked.

There are of course many great applications for NFC that will help with privacy, however you can now be separated from your money just by tapping your phone or a card. Have a think about that. The limits on contactless payment can be as high as say one hundred dollars.

Thieves have been able to extract money and data from people by getting close enough with a Point of Sale (POS) or scanning device to make a transaction. NFC is useful but another attack vector. Try to use it when it is useful and turn it off when it is not.

WHY: NFC is useful but represents another attack vector. Try to use it when it is useful and turn it off when it is not. You can do this easily in your phone settings.