Google restores Wallet service after security scare

Post by Richard Morris on 15th February 2012
 in 3G, E-commerce, Google, Retail

Google's Wallet pre-pay system for mobile phone users returned to service last night, after being taken offline for three days while the company fixed a hole in its security.

The company had been contacted by several concerned users who were worried that their PINs could be stolen.

The problem was most likely to occur when someone found a lost phone whose screen had not been locked.

Google quickly took the system down, "to address an issue that could have allowed unauthorised use of an existing prepaid card balance".

It said that the system had been disabled pending it developing a permanent solution.

Then last night, American time, came the announcement that the system had been restored.

Osama Bedier, vice president of Google Wallet and Payments, wrote on the Google Commerce blog: "While we're not aware of any abuse of pre-paid cards or the Wallet PIN resulting from these recent reports, we took this step as a precaution to ensure the security of our Wallet customers."