60 minutes on Sunday presented a report on a worm virus lying dormant in millions of computers worldwide awaiting instructions from China or Russia or wherever it was hatched that could instantly bring down the web. This morning, CNN reported that this virus has a name: “Conficker.” CNN also reported that it may go “live” tomorrow. Will April Fool’s Day become synonymous with cyber terrorism?

On January 19, Heartland Payments announced that up to 100 million credit and debit card records kept on their systems had been breached by an intruder. This breach would surpass the TJX breach of 2007.

It’s time for banks to embrace the concept upon which PayPal has built its hugely successful payments business; “Shopping Without Sharing” concept. NACHA is taking its stab at it with “Secure Vault Payments” (the cryptic moniker for what was previously and more accurately named “ACH Credit Push”). I have long felt and often stated in speeches, that it is ludicrous in today’s network-rich world for us to essentially give our banking information to a retailer so they can go and get our money.

As CTIA gets into full swing in Vegas, the real promise of mobile should be brought front and center. Reverse the flow of consumer payments information and settlement at POS. When I want to buy something, I pull out my phone, dial my bank and ask them to settle the transaction as I stand there. It would be relatively simple (meaning it should take less than ten years) to revamp the system so I never reveal anything to the merchant. They merely give me a transaction code and I instruct my bank to pay it, the message that the payment has been received pops up on the merchant terminal virtually instantaneously.

This system is so simple that the clerks will never again have to be taught different payment instrument rules. This system is so secure that the only place the information on me and my card is stored is within the fire wall of the bank.

The interesting question to contemplate as Obopay begins to use its new infusion of capital from Nokia is whether the developing countries in which they are building momentum will build payment networks under the old paradigm of expensive networks needing to be shared or will work with Nokia and Obopay in leveraging the power of consumers turning directly to their banks for every transaction wherever they are.

Confiker may get people thinking about privacy and security in payments in this “new” way. Think about a world in which I never enter my credit card or debit card information into any computer, EVER. The bank has my number. No one else other than the settlement clearinghouse (MasterCard, VISA, ACH, Discover, Amex) need it, not even me. And, this puts the banks back in the middle of the payments transaction and information value chain. That sounds like a win-win opportunity for consumers and banks to me. Too bad something like Confiker looming and Heartland scrambling is needed for people to start to get serious about securing the flow of information.