Near Field Communications

Undergraduate #240
Discipline: Computer Sciences and Information Management
Subcategory: Computer Science & Information Systems

Miracle Robinson - J.F. Drake State Community and Technical College

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The purpose of this research is to identify the level of data security of the Apple Pay and Google Pay applications in regards to cyber-security attacks and Near Field Communications (NFC). NFC is a form of contactless communication between devices like smartphones and tablets. Contactless communications allow a user to wave a smartphone over an NFC compatible device to send information without needing to touch the devices together or go through multiple steps to set up a connection. It can be used to exchange text, images, and URLs. Apple has introduced their version known as ‘Apple Pay’ and Google has also introduced their version, which is known as ‘Google Pay or Android Pay’. A pragmatic approach will be used to address the key points of this research. Key points include, but are not limited to identifying vulnerabilities of NFC; the functions of Google Pay/ Android Pay, the functions of Apple Pay; and how to maintain the security of personal data while using Near Field Communications. An M24SR-Discovery kit will be used to evaluate the features and capabilities of compatible devices by composing and sending text messages using NFC.

Funder Acknowledgement(s): Sponsored By: National Science Foundation: #1305041

Faculty Advisor: Ronald Egson, ronald.egson@drakestate.edu

Role: I completed this research project which consisted of researching Near Field Communications, Google Pay, and Apple Pay. Also, I experimented with the most used smartphone applications that are NFC-enabled.