Technology: Google Wallet Vulnerable To Hacks Discovered This Week

February 12, 2012 by Hannibal Tabu Leave a Comment

Near Field Communication technology promises to make your phone a way to pay for goods and services, and Google Wallet is seen as one of the Next Big Things … but let's just say that may be more trouble than it's worth. This report from February 9th explains …

Yesterday, security firm Zvelo discovered a potential exploit against rooted phones. Today, tech blog TheSmartphoneChamp discovered how to accomplish the same feat on non-rooted phones.

While yesterday's exploit required you to crack encrypted files, today's requires you to simply clear the data in the app settings. Doing so forces Google Wallet to reset itself and prompt the user for a new PIN. Once that's done, the attacker ties in a Google PrePaid card to the account and presto—all previously available funds are once again accessible. The method has been tested by multiple sources and confirmed by Google itself.

… maaaaybe that "physical wallet" can stick around a little while longer …

[Source: Gizmodo, The Verge]

About Hannibal Tabu

Born in Rockford, Illinois; raised in Memphis, Tennessee; matriculated in
Tacoma, Washington and broadcasting live from Los Angeles, Hannibal Tabu is
a writer, a brother, a husband, a misanthrope, a son, an emcee, an uncle, a
poet, a father, a designer, a nephew, a romantic, a storyteller, and by
god, a fan. He spent more than ten years doing the journalist thing for
Vibe, Slave Trade, MTV Online, Rap Pages, America Online, the Los Angeles
Sentinel, Spinnerrack.com, Speak and The Source. Hannibal has worked as a
web designer/producer and graphic artist for American Honda, eHobbies.com,
Quicken.com, Express.com, the California Association of REALTORS, Disney
Channel, NextPlanetOver.com, Toyota Motor Sales, Kaiser Permanente,
California Bank & Trust and many more. As a poet, Hannibal has been
published in The Drumming Between Us, (sic) Vice Verse, Drumvoices Review,
Voices From Leimert Park and other anthologies, as well as being author of
the collection BORN BENEATH AN ANGRY STAR and co-author of FLIGHT MANUAL.
As a novelist, he's written THE CROWN: ASCENSION and FARAWAY (both
available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble & Smashwords) and the upcoming sci fi
political thriller ROGUE NATION. He's the winner of the 2012 Top Cow Talent Hunt, writer of Waso: Will To Power for Stranger Comics, Project: Wildfire for Legends Press, and co-writer of an issue of Watson & Holmes (alongside 2 Guns writer Steven Grant) for New Paradigm Studios. For six years he was the editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Herald-Dispatch group of newspapers, is currently the co-owner and editor-in-chief of Black geek website Komplicated at the Good
Men Project, and uses his Operative Network website (www.operative.net) to
publish his poetry, market what he's doing, rant at the world and emit
strangled cries for help. In addition to all that, Hannibal collects comic
books, has scores of action figures, DJs private parties, is a Mac OS
zealot, sings and sometimes even hosts karaoke, practices a form of
spirituality based on ancient Egyptian belief, and goes to bed every day,
secretly hoping that half the world will commit suicide in his honor.