After being forced to suspend all prepaid credit card functions on their innovative Wallet mobile app following the detection of a security flaw, Google have announced that the service is now back up and running.
An official company email stated: “We are happy to announce that you can now add the Google Prepaid Card back to your wallet with the newest version of Google Wallet.
“To add the Google Prepaid Card back, you will first need to update your Google Wallet application to the most recent version.”
It was revealed last month that unauthorised access to prepaid credit card balances could be granted on mobile devices.
This potentially allowed anyone to get hold of (and spend) any existing balances on a prepaid card linked to the Google wallet application.
Digital pick pockets were able to access the cash by tapping into an existing balance on a wallet and simply changing the settings.
The discovery was made by a blogger known as The Smartphone Champ.
The mysterious character demonstrated that by going into the settings on an Android phone and blanking all the settings for a Google Wallet, anybody could conceivably gain access to a prepaid credit card linked with the device.
It was a damaging revelation for an application that the IT giant was particularly proud of.
It is worth noting that this new solution to the problem will only work for customers who are re-initialising Google Wallet on the same phone.
Anybody who wishes to set up their details and cards on a new device will have to contact Google initially to get started.
Additional security issues
Google have also been under scrutiny recently for other issues related to the new application.
One particular security company recently devised a method for cracking a PIN for the wallet.
Zvelo, the web security provider, suggested that the PIN for the wallet WAS NOT stored in its ‘secure element’ within the Android operating system.
Google claims that this can be prevented if the phone owner activates a specific screen lock feature on their phone.
This requires an additional PIN to be entered whenever the phone is activated. If the thief does not know that PIN, then they cannot get into the phone to get access to the prepaid funds.
Prepaid credit cards are generally a safe method of using cash. It is not connected to any bank accounts and, therefore, in the event of theft there is no risk of ID fraud.
