Security is Holy Grail of m-commerce

The last 18 months have seen some major technological strides been made in m-commerce, but users continue to worry about security - an issue which has become the number one concern in the books of m-commerce wannabe users.

This is according to Maeson Maherry, general manager of SACA, Verisign`s African affiliate, and a new member of NamITech, the IT arm of JSE Securities Exchange-listed Nampak.

"The need for a trusted environment where merchant and consumer can both confirm their identity and ensure a secure transaction is at the key of m-commerce`s future. One of the problems is that there is a preponderance of different systems available and this can be a hindrance rather than a help. There has been - and still is - a wide range of standards, pilots and immature technology. This is not good for the industry, nor does it do much for user confidence or tolerance levels."

He said that in the brick-and-mortar world a signature in pen on a piece of paper is treated with confidence and as proof that a contract has been sealed. But the wireless world is a lot different and the mobile channel currently faces a number of problems, such as limited memory and low and often expensive bandwidth - especially in Africa.

"These stumbling blocks will ultimately be removed. But right now the there are four main points that need to be addressed in the m-commerce world - confidentiality (the maintenance of that privacy during transmission), integrity (proof that the transmission hasn`t been changed), authentication (the identification of the user/merchant) and non-repudiation (the accountability of the user and merchant). If these four pillars of online security are not met, then the m-commerce transaction conducted will be potentially flawed. Or said another way, the ability to prove that a transaction was not fraudulently tampered with will be extremely difficult."

Commenting further, Maherry said while SACA had landed 80% of the PKI projects in SA during the last five years - and has entrenched its position locally - it currently only has a small market share in the rest of Africa. "But we aim to encourage SA to be the incubator of wireless security solutions which can be rolled out into Africa over the next few years."

He also believes that SACA is in a better position to deliver to the market following its purchase by NamITech.

"We are now also in a better position to deliver end-to-end secure solutions because of the NamITech tie-up. The tie-up with NamITech gives us the ability to put keys on SIM cards at manufacture stage - and this is because the company is the largest SIM card manufacturer in SA via sister company, ICT (Integrated Card Technologies)."

VeriSign Inc, headquartered in Mountain View, California, is the world`s largest provider of Internet trust services, supporting businesses and consumers from the first establishment of an Internet presence through the entire lifecycle of e-commerce activities. VeriSign provides trust services for Web sites, developers and individuals, including SSL Server IDs for Web site authentication and encryption through its Web site, www.verisign.com, as well as a growing number of ISPs and Web hosting companies.