It seems that there was a pretty huge security flaw in Google Wallet, the pay-by-smartphone system widely touted as being the next big thing in giving other people your money. A few days ago it was revealed that if there is a prepaid balance on your phone and someone steals it, they can get at the money by clearing data in your settings and then making up a new PIN. Now, Google has stopped Wallet from accepting new prepaid cards, temporarily at least, until it can fix the problem.
Meantime, Google says if you make your phone accessible only when there’s a password enabled, you shouldn’t have a problem. Still, this is a pretty dumb hole for Google to have not caught previously. And it’s a pretty troubling goof up for a product that people would reeeeeeally need to trust before entrusting it with their money. Until I know that all the kinks have been worked out for NFC (near field communications) payments, I’ll stick with the debit card in my wallet or, here’s a crazy thought, cash.
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