Throughout this chapter¸ the words customer, consumer, user refer to the user of the handheld mobile device like smart phones tablets and PDA (Personal Digital Assistant). Also, the word organization refers to the company or individual who plays a role in imparting an m-commerce service or is part of a transaction (discussed below).
Prior to understanding the security issues in m-commerce, we need to be aware of all the parties involved in providing m-commerce Services. The Position statement on mobile commerce, (Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), 2014) states that a single m-commerce transaction could involve: a) the consumer, b) the retail merchant whose service/ product is being used/purchase through the transaction, c) each party’s bank, d) a credit card provider, e) a communications network provider, f) a mobile hardware manufacturer of the handheld device, g) a mobile operating system developer and h) a mobile application developer of the of the m-commerce app being used. A failure of an m-Commerce transaction might be attributed to any one of these parties involved in providing m-Commerce Services. This complicates matters as one can not single out the root cause.