\tWestern Union and four other companies agreed to significantly improve the security of their mobile apps, following a challenge by authorities in New York.<\/p>\n
The state\u2019s attorney general announced it found apps offered on Google Play and Apple\u2019s App Store by Western Union Financial Services; Priceline; Equifax Consumer Services; Spark Networks; and Credit Sesame failed to protect users\u2019 data due to being vulnerable to a widely-known security flaw that enabled man-in-the-middle attacks.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the attorney general\u2019s office said the apps risked revealing \u201csensitive user information\u201d including passwords, social security numbers, credit card details and bank account numbers when details were transmitted over the internet.<\/p>\n
Attorney general Barbara Underwood said businesses which pledge to protect the personal information of users \u201chave a duty to keep those promises\u201d.<\/p>\n
The attorney general\u2019s office said an investigation revealed the companies\u2019 apps failed to properly implement secure socket layer (SSL) and transport layer security (TLS) security certificates used to protect data sent and received on a mobile device when using a public Wi-Fi connection.<\/p>\n
It noted app developers can test their ability to properly validate SSL-TLS certificates using \u201cfreely available software\u201d.<\/p>\n
As part of a settlement deal, all five companies have agreed to implement \u201ccomprehensive security programmes\u201d to protect user information from potential future attacks.<\/p>\n
Priceline and Equifax noted they had agreed their settlements in 2016 and 2017 respectively, Mobilepaymentstoday reported.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Western Union and four other companies agreed to significantly improve the security of their mobile …<\/p>\n
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