Security Pros Concerned About Facebook Payment Expansion

Facebook’s Messenger app has allowed users to send money to friends using their debit cards since last spring, but recent reports indicate that Facebook may be considering a move into the retail payments space as well, following in the tracks of Apple, Samsung and Google. Facebook will need to be careful, however, not to simply become yet another channel for criminals, security experts say. “Facebook creates enough data which the hacker can easily correlate and cross correlate in order to create a convincing and reliable story,” said Amit Ashbel, product marketing manager at Checkmarx. “You can never know who you are really talking with on Facebook. If a hacker has successfully infiltrated a Facebook account of one of your friends, they are now your friend, family or colleague.” If Facebook continues to expand its payments platform to become a serious player, it will be facing the hackers’ full arsenal of existing weapons, in addition to the social engineering issues, he said. Read the full article at CSO Online.