NFC security: 3 ways to avoid being hacked

Here's what to keep in mind as near-field communications (NFC), the technology that allows Apple iPhone users to tap and pay, takes off. By the end of 2015, more than a billion phones will have the capability to use the wireless protocol to exchange data, and applications beyond payments will become common. The technology promises greater security, but individual smartphone makers’ implementations of the technology are not perfect. In an annual hacking competition of mobile devices in 2012 and 2014, security researchers used previously unknown flaws in the NFC functionality of smartphones to compromise devices.