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Delivering the next generation of SMS with security
The mobile phone has rapidly emerged as a lifestyle asset, transforming the way people work, spend their free time, communicate and interact. No longer just a phone, it is increasingly seen as a device to support more and more of our personal needs, from banking and commerce, to entertainment and enterprise communications. However, while mobile internet has yet to reach mass-market adoption, SMS continues to grow and break its own volume records. SMS remains the consumer’s data channel of choice, in spite of its limitations but arguably because of its simplicity. By contrast, businesses are only just beginning to exploit the power of SMS as a communications and marketing vehicle.
Broca’s approach has been to enhance traditional SMS in order to overcome some of the existing limitations. Based upon its patented protocol, Broca has now developed its first market-ready messaging product: Secure Advanced Messaging Service.
A step change in mobile security
While data services have presented the opportunity to drive significant revenues for the mobile industry, the underlying technology remains largely insecure. Without extensive and costly restructuring of the global mobile network infrastructure the risks will remain. This has forced mobile operators to fix and cap the value of m-commerce transaction values, to prevent potential exposure and minimise the impact of fraudulent activity.
Moreover, growing security fears about sensitive information and financial transactions falling into the wrong ‘hands’ are presenting barriers to mass adoption. The inherent limitations of mobile phones and international network infrastructures are often to blame. There is now a secure solution that is easy to operate and simple to use for any network operator, financial institution, application developer or mobile phone user.
Download our White Paper on mobile security risks here.
Proving you are who you say you are
At the heart of the security gap lies the need to authenticate mobile communications, to prove a person is the person authorised to process or receive a mobile transaction. This issue is of particular importance when paying for goods and services through the mobile phone. Without the piece-of-mind offered by a secure mobile environment, the m-commerce predictions made by industry analysts will remain just a pipedream.
In addition to m-commerce, there is the wider and greater issue concerning cardholder-not-present (CnP) credit and debit card payments. Largely influenced by the introduction of chip & PIN at the point of sale, recent statistics demonstrate a massive swing towards CnP fraud, as criminals seek to exploit the vulnerabilities of dissociated payments. With so many digital media and communication channels, service providers are finding it increasingly difficult to protect minors from accessing adult content, gambling or purchasing over-age goods and services.
The mobile phone clearly has the potential to simplify and add convenience to many more aspects of our daily lives. This includes providing access to secure systems or locations; to secure person-to-person or application-to-person messaging. However, these activities can only be performed safely when an individual’s presence and identity have been properly verified. Without this, the cross-industry concerns relating to doubt, uncertainty, fear and fraud will remain.
Broca has addressed the security issues and mobile industry challenges without any change to existing mobile communication protocols, infrastructure, standards or devices. In its simplest form, this new and secure protocol introduces end-to-end security, resilience and protection to any mobile transport system.
Delivering a new consumer channel
In spite of its popularity, SMS remains limited as a consumer channel principally due to the constraints of plain text. This makes it difficult to use SMS for transaction related messaging without requiring the consumer to word the message according to a pre-determined format. This is often easily forgotten, leading to mistakes.
Broca’s new messaging product Secure Advanced Messaging Service is form-based making it ideal for data capture. It is particularly well-suited to direct response and consumer registration allowing consumers to sign up to services from the handset immediately regardless of location; this is particularly powerful for response to advertising seen on the move such as outdoor posters. Rather than the consumer having to remember or note a URL, they can send a text in to a shortcode and receive a registration text by response. Additionally, payment details such as credit cards can be taken with complete security.