Google Wallet flaw takes the lock off your mobile money

February 10, 2012

A new vulnerability in Google Wallet gives thieves access to your funds, even if the application data has been erased.

Google Wallet lets you digitize your credit cards and pay for things using near-field communication (NFC). That is, all you have to do is touch your phone to an NFC device and the item you’re buying is automatically charged to your account.

Google has touted that its wallet isn’t like the leather ones - it actually has a lock on it. This lock exists in the form of a PIN number that must be entered for access to the wallet. But a hack yesterday exposed an application that, when used on a rooted phone, can guess the PIN number used for Google Wallet. Read more