viaForensics revealed some interesting information about Google Wallet. While the system is generally viewed as secure it still does leave some personal data unencrypted. Regarding ID’s Gina Jordan spoke with Andrew Hoog, chief investigative officer at viaForensics, about the analysis the company did on the system. While Google made some changes to the software after the report was released, Hoog says more needs to be done. “There was a lot of information left on the device,” he says. “If somebody was trying to take over an identity, they could use this information to either pose as you or call you and act like they’re the credit card company and try to get you to release the additional information,” he adds.

With near field communication on the horizon and more handsets hitting the market that include the technology, what about the mobile wallet? The software the enables the chip on the phone to perform various tasks is necessary for anything to happen in the NFC ecosystem. The Mobey Forum released a white paper that examines the mobile wallet, what it is and what it does. Gerhard Romen, member of the board of directors at the Mobey Forum and director of Mobile Financial Services at Nokia, discusses the report and why the mobile wallet is more than just payments. Romen also gives his take on Verizon’s decision not to enable Google Wallet in the new Samsung handsets in favor of its soon-to-be-released ISIS.