Mobile Payment Software Hacked by Competing Mobile Payment Software Company

How great would it be if that traveling taco truck that parks out in front of your office took credit cards. Or the hotdog concessions guy at the ballpark. Or the organic vegetable guy at the farmer's market. Thanks to two companies, and a handy dandy cell phone accessory, they all can.


With a simple little dongle that plugs into the 3.5 mm jack on your smartphone and an app, you can take credit card payments through your phone. All you need to do is swipe the card through the dongle and you're set.

The problem is, the two companies are in a cut throat battle for market share and one company (VeriFone) figured out how to hack the other company's (Square) software to steal credit card information and published the hack in a letter to consumers.

The move was a malicious effort to inform credit card companies and consumers just how unsafe their financial data was if they used one of Square's products. And while the hack is apparently legit, and it is possible for a shady vendor to steal credit card information from customers and sell it on the black market, to publish exactly how to do it is really irresponsible.

The moral of the story here, be careful who you entrust your credit card to. And if you didn't already know that, well, feel free to ignore this post.

Posted in: mobile