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SMS for 2FA security – who are they kidding?
SMS was deprecated as authentication more than a decade ago, yet Twitter announced that it will only allow its users to secure their accounts with SMS-based 2FA Read more…
Articles by David Birch
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When using ChatGPT follow this golden rule
Follow this golden rule, and you will find ChatGPT and its ilk very useful. Never ask a question that you do not already know the answer to. Read more…
Features
The passing of passwords, and not a moment too soon!
The state of internet security is pathetic. It’s no wonder that fraud is at epic levels when vast swathes of the internet depend on passwords for security. Read more…
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How digital identity can prove your new Gucci bag is real
If we think about the idea of digital identity in the Internet of Things, then luxury goods such as watches and Gucci handbags make for an interesting example. Read more…
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Is public opinion on digital cash really worth listening to?
Asking the public for their opinions about crypto and digital cash is like asking people in the days of bulletin boards what they want from social media. Read more…
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What the **** is the metaverse and why should business care?
I’ve seen so many different descriptions of the metaverse, the new cyberspace for work, rest and play it’s really unclear to me what it is. Read more…
Features
Old-fashioned fraud was simple, today’s a very different story
Fraud is getting out of control and we need population-scale digital identity infrastructure to have even a chance of tackling it. Read more…
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What do fintech, productivity and air-con have in common?
Lack of productivity growth is because fintech is being used to support existing products, processes, regulation and institutional structures Read more…
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There is a link between AI and the blockchain – I think
I think I can see that if there is an interesting connection between AI and blockchain then it’s not about using the blockchain as a glorified Excel spreadsheet. Read more…
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Going cashless doesn’t mean drifting into cashlessness
The shift to cashless society must be planned to help low-income and elderly groups so that they share in the benefits of cashlessness. Read more…
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Here’s how to avoid email phishing scams: stop using email
One result of getting your online credentials stolen may be fraudulent phishing emails pretending to be from a company you do business with. There are two ways said business can mitigate that: encrypt all their Read more…
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Why (and how) the banks of the future must ‘Amazonize’ themselves
Open banking will require banks to ‘Amazonize’ themselves, where products are created as API services and distributed throughout the consumption of API services. Here’s how they could go about doing that. In his new book Read more…
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China finally adopts PSD2-style security for digital payments
QR codes are everywhere because anyone can read them, anyone can use them, and anyone can write them. This is in part because there is no security infrastructure. The result in China, where there was Read more…
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2018 Preview: Open banking and other FinTech trends to watch
Consult Hyperion picks its five major FinTech trends for 2018. Included: open banking, conversational transactions, the Internet of Cars, and (of course) AI and ICOs It’s that time of year again. I’ve had a chat Read more…
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China loves digital currency but can it go truly cashless?
China’s central bank wants to ditch paper money eventually. The big challenge is: who gets to create digital currency as legal tender? The Chinese were first with the great transition from commodity money to paper Read more…
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Worldpay’s payments R&D should make banks green with envy
One of my very favorite companies has always been Worldpay. They have a very special place in my heart because many years ago, when they were first starting out, I was sent up to Cambridge Read more…
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Thanks to Apple, NFC tags are finally a viable alternative to QR codes
A decade ago I remember writing that one of the problems with QR codes is that there is no security. Some years later I wrote an article pointing out that NFC ought to be safer than QR Read more…
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To tap or not to tap: that is the mobile payments question
There’s a lot of consumer frustration over mobile contactless payments, but that may not matter if apps, not contactless, are the future of mobile payments How are mobile payments getting on in the UK? According Read more…
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The ultimate role of Bitcoin for banks is up for debate
The future of cryptocurrency for banks could be as a settlement money that connects other different monies. The big question is whether this is this a role for Bitcoin specifically? My old friend Alistair Milne recently published Read more…
Features
How blockchain could fix the supply chain fraud problem
Blockchain is set to disrupt supply chains, but could it prevent fraud problems like the Salad Oil Swindle of 1963? Actually, yes it could I’m not sure if you’re supposed to have a favorite supply Read more…