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A Day After Tim Cook's Veiled Threats, ApplePay Alternative Gets Hacked

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Just yesterday Apple's executives went on the offensive against retailers that refused to play by the Cupertino company's rules with veiled threats. So it is ironic at best that today, Wal-Mart's alternate-to-ApplePay mobile payment system - CurrentC - has been hacked. The company explains "within the last 36 hours, we learned unauthorized third parties obtained email addresses of some" of their clients...and "no other information."

From CurrentC

 

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Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:02 | 5390049 Newsboy
Newsboy's picture

Apple, the low-hanging-fruit, this time.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:05 | 5390054 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

These 'financial' hacks are popping up faster than bankers at a Fed pre-QE4 party.

All the more reason to keep some fiat cash on hand as well as plenty of PM's. The precious metals have yet to shine as bright as they will once the fiat begins to fail.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:07 | 5390068 Spastica Rex
Spastica Rex's picture

Electronic warfare between cartels.

Covered in Star Wars Episode I, meeza think.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:11 | 5390091 Ralph Spoilsport
Ralph Spoilsport's picture

Near Field Communication, So Far Away.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:11 | 5390097 Gen.Ackbar
Gen.Ackbar's picture

Its a Trap!

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:14 | 5390107 TheAnalOG
TheAnalOG's picture

Bitcoin survives.  ApplePay will not.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:17 | 5390129 Keyser
Keyser's picture

Once again, fuck you Tim Cook... 

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:40 | 5390216 TheAnalOG
TheAnalOG's picture

I can see we have some loser AAPL groupies here....

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 13:04 | 5390342 Keyser
Keyser's picture

When the CEO of a public company publicly states that anyone that is a "climate change denier" should not invest in AAPL, I knew it was time to sell... Hence my attitude toward Tim Cook... 

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:26 | 5390166 KnuckleDragger-X
KnuckleDragger-X's picture

I spend a large amount of time these days as a consultant on network security and most of these companies problems are self-inflicted. They want security but they won't do what's required since its 1) complex and time consuming and 2) expensive, requiring high quality equipment and expensive security people running the show. Some of the worst security holes can e traced directly to management who won't buy hardened equipment and offshore jobs to code monkeys in foreign countries.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 13:20 | 5390409 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

I find it humorous that an app on a smart-phone would even have an email address.

Thu, 10/30/2014 - 04:01 | 5392657 StychoKiller
StychoKiller's picture

Well, phone numbers are so 19th Century! :>D

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:27 | 5390167 KnuckleDragger-X
KnuckleDragger-X's picture

 speaking of computers problems a ZH generated dupe....

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:49 | 5390258 bigbwana
bigbwana's picture

They will shine like never before. The Illuminati have been defeated and there will never be a NWO. Guaranteed by the Galactic Federation who represent God and cannot tell a lie. The global currency is about to be restructured on PMs. China and India and Russia know it. Why do think they are loading up on gold?  

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:06 | 5390060 buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

the retailers care so much. about what i have no idea. [/thornton melon]

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:08 | 5390075 oddjob
oddjob's picture

Good answer, I'm going to be watching you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj5k6toS7i8

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:43 | 5390229 buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

In response to Roman numeral... section three, part two... of subset D... of the question... the answer is...

Mr. Melon? Mr. Melon?

Hey, relax. This man's been put under a lot of pressure. Let's take it easy on him. Say it! Say it!

The answer is... four?

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:05 | 5390063 Never One Roach
Never One Roach's picture

"No Hacker left behind!"

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:06 | 5390064 Sudden Debt
Sudden Debt's picture

I'll pay with my own card no thank you.

For the love of god... paying with your cell phone...

It really destroys any restraints on spending if you don't have anything that is only connected to spending money.

A cell phone is linked to calling and playing games.

Pavlof's dog? Anybody?

 

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:08 | 5390074 Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill's picture

Idebt.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:17 | 5390128 PT
PT's picture

Just hand me your wallet and your bank account.  I'll look after it for you.  You can trust me because I'm rich, you don't know my name, and I live on the other side of the world.

Here, how would you like to look at these "apps"?  They're free, sorta, for now ...

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:28 | 5390176 KnuckleDragger-X
KnuckleDragger-X's picture

iFucked....

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:08 | 5390076 SpanishGoop
SpanishGoop's picture

I'll only pay in cash, thank you.

 

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:49 | 5390263 Dr. Richard Head
Dr. Richard Head's picture

Make sure to pay attention to the math of the young bucks behind the regsiter.  Math is apparently no longer taught at schools.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 13:09 | 5390372 insanelysane
insanelysane's picture

It's still taught because the teachers' unions don't want to lose a bunch of people.  Unfortunately each class starts with the teacher telling the kids, "you don't really need to know this because computers will do it for you."

I quiz my kids regularly on how much x is going to cost or how much change am I getting back.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 13:46 | 5390576 lameusername
lameusername's picture

Sure it is, it's just Common Core math. If you can elloquently explain (B.S.) how you came to get the answer, no matter how wrong it is, you still get a gold star! 

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 21:43 | 5392077 PT
PT's picture

And I bet that those who can actually do maths are the last to get any jobs - even if those jobs involve maths.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:13 | 5390083 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

Interestingly, paying by cell phone is more common in undeveloped third world countries. Of course their pay by cell phone technology is much more secure than ours.

They have an advantage over first world nations. They did not have to integrate old technology into the new since there was no infrastructure to begin with. And with resources limited they need to be secure the first time.

That is not to say they don't have problems. But there are distinct advantages to being second or third to the technology table.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:14 | 5390103 SpanishGoop
SpanishGoop's picture

So paying by cell phone is very common in America ?

Or i don't get it....

Sorry European, what's a cell phone ?

 

 

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:15 | 5390118 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

Too funny.

Please excuse my "American" self centered thinking. I still 'think' "We the People" are a first world nation. How silly of me. :)

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:19 | 5390139 SpanishGoop
SpanishGoop's picture

Yeah, we tend to think that way.

 

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 15:08 | 5390985 Sudden Debt
Sudden Debt's picture

You do know that Europe had cell phones years before America had them and it took almost a decade before America had something that could almost qualify in quality as the european networks.

They don't teach you that on the Disney channel he? :)

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:32 | 5390163 Ghordius
Ghordius's picture

now you are being silly. cellular phones are ubiquitous, in Spain, or in Europe in general

meanwhile what is also quite widespread is the same NFT technology that the new iPhone uses, but with smartcards of the bank debit card (but also credit card) sort

the EU, bless their silly hearts, are still thinking about blocking the iPhone and similar systems, saying that the card system is safer. of course Apple is livid, and joins the megacorp chorus of "down with the EU tyranny", together with Google, Microsoft, Monsanto, Uber etc. etc.

silly little thing, the EU, constantly distressing the poor, poor megacorps trying to make a megabuck or two. sometimes Brussels behaves as if they received a mandate of caring for consumers! the arrogance of this behaviour is appalling.. /s

http://www.aviso.io/technical-issues-apple-pay-europe/

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:32 | 5390190 SpanishGoop
SpanishGoop's picture

That's simple, the EU hates everything that isn't "EU controlled".

Didn't read about them having a problem with iPhonePay.

 

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:34 | 5390192 KnuckleDragger-X
KnuckleDragger-X's picture

The EU has a robust system that was created by people with a nice paranoid outlook. America has a system that is easy for the banks to take a big rake-off since the regulations are set up to blame EVERYBODY ELSE first.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 15:08 | 5390989 Loukanika the r...
Loukanika the riot dog's picture

And all this bollocks is from a country that doesn't have chip and pin as standard yet. Give me a break

 

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 16:30 | 5391264 trader1
trader1's picture

makes you wonder if the EU is one of the last Western institutions not willing to take it up the a$$ by the corporate juggernauts.

 

is it too good to be true?

 

Apple and other multinationals based in Ireland are to be given a four-year window before the phasing out of a scheme that cuts their tax bills.

Amid mounting international criticism of the arrangements, which save foreign companies billions of euros, Ireland’s finance minister, Michael Noonan, is expected to announce the end of the “double Irish” scheme when he delivers his budget on Tuesday.

The European commission is investigating “sweetheart” tax deals between the Irish state and Apple, and last month Brussels provisionally found that the iPhone maker’s tax arrangements in Ireland were so generous as to amount to state aid.

Noonan’s move may pre-empt measures hinted at by the UK chancellor last month, when he announced a crackdown on technology firms’ tax strategies at the Conservative party conference. George Osborne said: “Some of the biggest technology companies in the world … go to extraordinary lengths to pay little or no tax here … We will put a stop to it.” Party officials briefed that he had companies using the double Irish scheme in his sights.

On the international stage, the G20 group of powerful economies has commissioned the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development to produce a package of tax reforms to rein in multinationals. This work is expected to be completed by summer 2015.

Accompanying a pledge to remove the tax loophole, Noonan’s budget is expected to contain incentives for multinationals, such as lower tax rates for companies that centre their research and development facilities on Ireland. The so-called “patent box” will reward foreign firms that base their technological developments in the Irish state. This echoes the UK’s regime, which has attracted criticism from other countries as well as the EU’s code of conduct committee.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/oct/13/ireland-close-double-iri...

 


 


Wed, 10/29/2014 - 13:36 | 5390470 jarana
jarana's picture

In Africa, people have been using cell phone credit as payment since some time ago.

Maybe it's a sign of real (freely chosen) money according to the resources and needs available.

Nothing to do with centralized (client-SERVER) payment systems (taxpayer-CENTRAL BANK) like ApplePay.

If one thinks a little about it, it's just AMAZING; no need for PhD or state-driven education for acting wisely.

Go PMs... Go BTC...

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 15:10 | 5390995 Sudden Debt
Sudden Debt's picture

Actually, the octopus system is already pretty old in South Korea but they're way more developped tan America. Compaired to them, America is a 3th world country.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:12 | 5390093 LULZBank
LULZBank's picture

 

A cell phone is linked to calling and playing games.

 

And taking pictures, the most important function of a cell phone.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:25 | 5390153 SpanishGoop
SpanishGoop's picture

And if you press the wrong button while paying you automatically get a selfie posted on social media of you paying..... i give up.

Don't call me i won't call you.

 

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 13:00 | 5390323 firstdivision
firstdivision's picture

Paying with your cell phone with your credit card info on it.  This gives the NSA/CIA/FBI two sources for the same data point.  Genius.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 17:33 | 5391455 Seahorse
Seahorse's picture

...then validate with your fingerprint and you are their prisoner. 

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 13:30 | 5390391 JuliaS
JuliaS's picture

The mobile phone payment system came to us from Africa's poorest regions, believe it or not. It was derived out of necessity, due to the fact more people there had access to cell phones than to any other service such as banking. They invented ways to process payments, issue credit and do direct person-to-person transaction with electronic devices that were available on hand.

The 1st world does not share same necessities as the places where mobile payments originated. However, some form of consolidation is inevitable. Cell phones are the hubs of modern existence so it makes logical sense to expand their function. Personally, I would rather go for a power-independent device for any kind of authentication. Plastic cards work well enough. Small, durable, water resistant, easy to conceal.

Smart watch migh be a dumb idea, but I wouldn't mind having an RFID type bracelet, with an active coil and no onboard power, ensuring it can't get cloned as easily as typical RFID cards. Say, a bracelet that activates in the presense of a magnetic field and allows the user to either confirm or decline request, be that a mobile payment, a car's ignition, an electronic door lock or a computer login. Plenty of gizmo bracelets around, but none perform such functions. Most are nothing but fancy pedometers and people pay $100's for something that used to come free with a box of cereal 20 years ago.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:07 | 5390065 Bill of Rights
Bill of Rights's picture

New handyman clerk at Lowe's is a robot

Lowe's, one of the biggest retail hardware and DIY stores in the U.S., unveiled on Tuesday its first in-store robot clerk: OSHbot.

The company is setting the roughly 5-feet-tall autonomous robot loose on unsuspecting consumers sometime soon in its San Jose, California-based Orchard Supply Store, a chain that's owned by Lowe's.

Developed by Fellow Robots, in partnership with Lowe's own Innovation Labs, OSHbot is to have a map of the store and obstacle avoidance abilities to make its way through the aisles. It will feature a large, 19.5-inch touchscreen on the front and be able to use speech recognition to communicate in English and, soon, a number of other languages, including Spanish. There's another even larger screen on the back of OSHbot, which appears to be primarily a place to run advertisements and in-store promotions.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:25 | 5390134 clade7
clade7's picture

 

 

WE had one at our store here.  He's now locked up in the cage in the garden section with the propane tanks...word is,

The night watchman caught him fucking the shopvacs!

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:56 | 5390311 ebear
ebear's picture

Roboshop.

Buy more items, or there'll be..... trouble!

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:08 | 5390070 nakki
nakki's picture

Shocking!! I always wondered why a PC would get hacked but not an Apple computer. Guess I just found out why. Must be why Apple has added $65 billion in market cap in 14 days.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:10 | 5390085 i_call_you_my_base
i_call_you_my_base's picture

The PC / Apple hacking was always about market share. When PCs had 90% it didn't make as much sense to go after Apple products.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:22 | 5390147 nakki
nakki's picture

I've heard that for years but 10% is still a big number and if these computers have no virus protection would seem an easy thing to do. Most of the time I think its companies that make the software to protect PC'S that are doing the hacking, creating a need for their products. Perhaps I'm just to cynical but would seem a great way to create business.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:25 | 5390160 i_call_you_my_base
i_call_you_my_base's picture

I'm sure it's happened. Also keep in mind that the government knows about security exploits and doesn't tell the software companies so that they can use them for spying. Even though they set up a function where people can submit exploits under the guise that they will work with companies to patch them. An insider blew the whistle on it a few years back, but it's not illegal and they just said they don't.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 15:11 | 5390998 fishwharf
fishwharf's picture

Yes.  Just like the guy I read about with an auto glass shop who paid thugs to go around breaking car windows in the neighborhood.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:09 | 5390080 Bell's 2 hearted
Bell's 2 hearted's picture

can't they just hack each other to death?

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:16 | 5390114 Urban Redneck
Urban Redneck's picture

Do the masses get more nude selfies of dumb people who think too much of themselves?

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:21 | 5390142 LULZBank
LULZBank's picture

The first banker to jump off a building with a GoPro would be a legend.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:10 | 5390089 One And Only
One And Only's picture

Bitcoin solved all these problems a few years ago. Why are companies trying to innovate by making wheels into squares? Can someone explain like I'm 5?

 

 

 

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:15 | 5390109 oddjob
oddjob's picture

Unless you have your own pipes, the only thing worse than trusting a banker is trusting some greasy telco executive.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:38 | 5390209 KnuckleDragger-X
KnuckleDragger-X's picture

Yep, it's easy to make bitcoin disappear from the net if you can control the backbone like the government can... but it's for the good of the country don'cha know....

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:19 | 5390132 centerline
centerline's picture

Electronic currency is the holy grail for governments.  Who doesn't want in on that action (from the standpoint of Apple, Google, etc.)?  Anything outside the ability of government to regulate, tax, etc. is DOA.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:23 | 5390154 PT
PT's picture

When TPTB want it to be trustworthy, it will be trustworthy.  Until TPTB no longer want it to be trustworthy.

No-one should be allowed to perform electronic transactions until they understand how to program computers.  And how to build computers.  Then they can make a more informed decision.  But then they might ask awkward questions.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:12 | 5390096 Pseudonymous
Pseudonymous's picture

Bitcoin users not affected.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:14 | 5390106 oklaboy
oklaboy's picture

cashless society, then the takeover is complete

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:18 | 5390127 Fuku Ben
Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:24 | 5390164 PT
PT's picture

??? (the links)

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:21 | 5390150 Crtrvlt
Crtrvlt's picture

currenctC, with its shitty user experience among others, is a joke

 

The problem with the CurrentC system, as John Gruber points out, is that it’s based more around solving the retailers’ credit card fee problems than the consumers’ payment friction problems. Users have to open their phone, open CurrentC, open the scanner, scan the code from the cashier, and wait for the transaction to be confirmed. That may present more friction than simply paying with a credit card, and it’s certainly harder than a quick Touch ID verification and tap of Apple Pay.

 

http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/25/currentc/

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:27 | 5390170 dontgoforit
dontgoforit's picture

Implanted BitChips.  IPO will come at $20 and close at $50 - who wouldn't want a piece of that?  Then the reality.  You can't buy, sell, travel, etc. without one.  The new "Don't leave home without it" cue for the ultimate takeover.  Ebola, ISIS, terror on the home front, financial collapse (which I believe we all realize is coming) and the close:  'Everyone must have the implant - it's for the children.'  Like a thief in the night, baby.  Off-grid won't be off enough.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:31 | 5390187 MrButtoMcFarty
MrButtoMcFarty's picture

It would be real shame if something happened to this nice store you got here....

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:35 | 5390201 eucalyptus
eucalyptus's picture

It isn't fully about lowering consumer friction - I have a mastercard with paypass that works with the same nfc terminals applepay does and it is even quicker than applepay.

 

I just hold my wallet (unopened) right up to the nfc scanner/terminal, and it registers the sale and off i go.

 

Now, since there is no tokenization it is less secure than apple pay, but in self serve checkout, it is faster then getting my card out and swiping. 

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 15:49 | 5391139 Jack Sheet
Jack Sheet's picture

Is the wallet in your jeans ass pocket when you perform that maneuver?

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:45 | 5390237 Bemused Observer
Bemused Observer's picture

Time to get disruptive!

Apple, you are too big to fail. Time for plan B...throw down the gauntlet. Issue your own currency and demand all Apple products be paid for with Apple Dollars. Then declare war on Canada. (they're probably easier to beat than China.)

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:48 | 5390259 Kreditanstalt
Kreditanstalt's picture

And NONE of these generate any new real wealth, add any new value or raise anyone's standard of living.  Produce, as usual, NOTHING.

And now the fraudsters are reduced to cannibalizing one another and fighting over each other's carcass...

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:53 | 5390292 Duffy Duck
Duffy Duck's picture

The username the phallic crusader has not been activated or is blocked.

 

ZEROHEDGE:  NO FACT-BASED CRITICISM OF ISRAEL ALLOWED.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 12:56 | 5390306 robobbob
robobbob's picture

Cook: Nice business ya got goin here Mr Retailer, be a, you know, a real shame if anything was ta happen to it, if you know what I mean...........

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 13:16 | 5390398 Youri Carma
Youri Carma's picture

So Apple in cahoots with the NSA? Wouldn't surprise me.

Apple users lack any technological knowledge (otherwise you wouldn't buy this shit) and are the perfect sheople.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 13:34 | 5390493 NaiLib
NaiLib's picture

Of course Apple is in cahoots with hackers. IT's not many weeks since several retailers got hacked too, Just ahead of Apple Pay's launch.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 14:12 | 5390725 Freewheelin Franklin
Freewheelin Franklin's picture

I,m sure Apple has their own in-house hackers......running Kali, of course. 

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 13:38 | 5390519 pupdog1
pupdog1's picture

I invite them to try and hack the cash in my pants.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 14:49 | 5390919 Fíréan
Fíréan's picture

Cell phones render their users prisoners of, and to, the whole cell phone and network system.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 21:48 | 5392103 PT
PT's picture

It only costs you 700 bucks per year to access your own cash.   Plus the bank fees.  Plus the transaction fees.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 16:01 | 5391184 ironmace
ironmace's picture

go figure

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 16:24 | 5391248 trader1
trader1's picture

this is cyber war.

or one fine coincidence.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 19:34 | 5391773 Herdee
Herdee's picture

When European Banks are being bailed out by QE programs (taxpayer's money),old Uncle Sam who is trillions of bucks in debt probably just had to pick up the blower and level with the EU.Both need the tax money.Both are essentially insolvent.It means that when governments are desperate to pay their bills somebody is going to get it.The baby boomers are really going to pressure these guys,the demographics don't match the taxes that need to be collected.It's one big lie to everybody.

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 21:20 | 5392026 David Wooten
David Wooten's picture

Apple has a lot of 'friends' in the form of customers and investors with a stake, financial or otherwise, in its outlook.  All Apple has to do is insinuate something negative about a rival and some of the stakeholders are likely to 'do something'.

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