Category: Mobile Security

The company formerly known as RIM has now debuted its transaction service within the country.

BlackBerry has just announced that it has become the latest player within the rapidly growing and highly competitive mobile payments environment, as it has now started an Indonesian pilot launch of its BBM Money service.

This service will allow the device users to transfer money through the use of an instant messenger service.

By using BBM Money, BlackBerry device users are able to create accounts through those gadgets so that they will be able to make mobile payments in real time to contacts on their BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) account, or to other bank accounts of non-contacts. They will also be able to purchase prepaid SIM cards and additional airtime for their devices by way of this new service.

This new mobile payments service is the result of a partnership with PT Bank Permata in Indonesia.

It is the PT Bank Permata that is issuing the BBM Money mobile payments accounts through this trial of the service. BlackBerry has also pointed out that it is using bank grade security measures in order to ensure that users can enjoy transactions that are safe and secure. Among those measures include encryption, passwords, limits, and monitoring.

The device manufacturer, based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, decided to launch its service for the first time in Indonesia, partly because of the massive popularity of BlackBerry devices within that country. In fact the brand currently boasts 240 million users within the Indonesian marketplace.

According to a media release from the company which quoted T.A. McCann, the vice president of BBM and social communities for the organization, “BlackBerry leads the mobile and smartphone market in Indonesia, where BBM is extremely popular with our customers.” McCann went on to say that “BBM Money, which uses BlackBerry’s BBM service, further evolves the BBM experience to move from real-time chat to meaningful and convenient real-time engagement.”

This makes the Canadian smartphone manufacturer and technology developer the very latest in the mobile payments environment. It is joining many other large players, which just recently included Samsung and Visa, which have partnered together for their own contactless method.

Brands are beginning to worry about whether or not it is safe to use the networks.

Though most of the world felt that last week’s social media marketing hacks that broke the “news” that McDonalds had purchased Burger King, Jeep had been acquired by Cadillac, and even “The Donald” had some surprising lyrics to share, these events were not as harmless as they initially appeared.

Many brands are now wondering if they are safe from hacks that are meant to be less than amusing.

After all, Burger King, Jeep, and Donald Trump certainly weren’t left laughing. Security analysts didn’t feel that the jokes were tremendously funny, either, as it is only a very clear sign that social media marketing is placing companies at an increased risk of having their accounts hacked. They are becoming increasingly common and their severity is rising. Many wonder whether this is threatening a massive closure of business accounts from leading brands who would prefer not to have to deal with that risk.

For social media marketing as a whole to succeed, higher security efforts may become very necessary.

According to the founder and chief executive of Deep Focus, Ian Schafer, “I think Twitter needs to step up its game in providing better security.” Schafer’s organization is a digital advertising firm. He recently informed his staff that the social networks such as Twitter as well as Facebook, Pinterest “and anyone else serious about having brands on their platform” will be required to “invest time in better understanding how brands operate day to day.”

Aside from last week’s hacks, NBC News and USA Today have also been successfully broken into over the last while. This has raised a serious concern about the password protection of social media marketing account and the ease of gaining access to them.

There have been a growing number of calls being made for increased security to social media marketing accounts, which has now risen to a deafening roar as brand giants have added their voices. These brands feel that they should be provided with an added security layer over that of a typical user, as the traditional user doesn’t face the same constant risk of a hacking threat that is experienced by companies.