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The hackers exploited a flaw in a mobile payment feature introduced by 7-Eleven Japan on July 1 to target 900 accounts and use them to make purchases of $ 500,000, forcing the retailer to stop the program, according to The Verge.
This feature allowed in-store customers to scan the barcode of a product and load a credit or debit card that they had badociated with their account. Hackers were able to access consumer accounts because the 7-Eleven system allowed users to send an email to reset their pbadword using an unrelated email address they only provided their date. their email address and telephone number.
The retailer has responded by preventing consumers from signing up for the feature or making payments via it. It also intends to compensate the concerned users.
The hacking caught the attention of the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, which determined that 7-Eleven was not following the necessary processes to avoid unauthorized access. authorized to the accounts, reports the Japan Times.
Mobile payment service providers are required to confirm the link between consumer devices and downloaded apps in accordance with the guidelines set by the Payments Japan Association, but 7-Eleven has failed to do so. The ministry called on other operators not to make the same mistake, which could mean that it would be more interested in mobile payment services in the future and possibly apply higher standards.
If this piracy leads to increased surveillance by the Japanese government, it could hamper the country's mobile payment market, which is warming up.
- A number of companies are working on mobile payment initiatives in Japan, where Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants 40% of consumer payments to be cashless by 2025. This would represent a significant increase over the 18% of transactions made in 2015 by the cashless methods, and While the country's QR code market alone accounted for a value of 6 trillion yen ($ 55.2 billion) in 2023, Japan's transition to cashless systems represents a valuable opportunity. That's why leading industry players, such as Alibaba, Tencent and Line, have teamed up to create a unified QR code payment system in Japan, while WeChat Pay, Line, Google Pay and Paytmhave have created new payment games in the country.
- But the threat of increased government involvement could slow the development of Japan's industry. If the government introduces stricter standards and plays a more active role in mobile payment services, this could hinder innovation and investment in mobile payments. The news of the government's concerns over mobile payments, combined with reports of seven to eleven hacks, could worry consumers and hinder the adoption of mobile payments in Japan.
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