Technology and Security Considerations for Mobile Contactless Payments at the Point-of-Sale in the U.S. Technology and Security Considerations for Mobile Contactless Payments at the Point-of-Sale in the U.S.

November 8, 2013

In June 2013, the Mobile Payments Industry Workgroup (MPIW) met with POS terminal providers and smart card providers to address the technological and security considerations impacting the rollout of mobile contactless payments at the point-of-sale (POS) in the U.S.  While the discussions sought to better understand primary technologies that support mobile contactless payments in the U.S.—NFC, cloud, or QR codes, discussions were primarily focused on NFC technology given the experience and background of the panelists and the challenges to its widespread adoption.  The findings in this paper are based on that discussion and include the panelists' views on: technical complexity and cost of NFC adoption; security challenges of mobile payments at POS and tools for addressing related vulnerabilities; and practical considerations for the future.