currently connected. Not a comfortable thought when the opportunities for data thieves are so attractive: a Facebook mobile app gets diverted to fraudulent links, mobile check deposits or mobile payments are intercepted, a consumer’s personal data is suddenly compromised when she syncs her hacked phone to her PC or laptop.
It’s ironic. At the precise moment that the market is urging mobile consumers to make use of the most security-sensitive financial applications, carriers are moving towards greater use of potentially untrusted networks and vulnerable all-IP architectures, while their infrastructure vendors are struggling to deliver adequately performing security solutions. It’s time for telecom carriers to get over their entrenched conservatism and look beyond the incumbents to network solutions as innovative as the entrepreneurs, apps, devices and consumers that their network supports.
Any participant in the mobile ecosystem with skin in the game should be paying close attention to how the security conundrum is handled. Mobile-focused businesses can’t take full advantage of LTE speed bumps if they constantly struggle to gauge which network is safest. All businesses looking to ride the next wave of mobile communications need to stay in touch with the debate and lobby for appropriate protection rather than settle for the same mixture as before—or something designed for a different purpose. At the end of the day, lack of innovation in just one area puts all innovators at risk of missing the next economic wave.
