Payment Terminal Mutual Authentication With Pre-Validated Keys
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing mobile payment systems face security issues due to direct transmission of sensitive user data as cleartext, which can be intercepted, and existing secure communication schemes introduce delays and are cumbersome, especially in fueling environments where terminals are often unmanned.
Innovation Solution
A mutual authentication process between a payment terminal and a mobile device using pre-validated cryptographic keys, where a database of pre-authenticated certificates is maintained, reducing the need for runtime validation by transferring a public key instead of a complete certificate.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If direct communication between mobile device and payment terminal is used, then system complexity is reduced, but security deteriorates due to cleartext transmission of sensitive user data
Solution Approach 1:
The patent pre-establishes and stores cryptographic key pairs and digital certificates in both the mobile device and payment terminal before actual communication occurs. This preliminary preparation of authentication materials enables secure communication without requiring complex runtime validation, thus maintaining simplicity while ensuring security through pre-configured cryptographic credentials.
2Reliability
If runtime validation of digital certificates is performed, then security is improved, but transaction time increases due to complex handshaking procedures
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs certificate validation and key pair verification in advance during system setup, storing the results in lookup tables. During actual transactions, the system simply queries these pre-validated certificates rather than performing runtime validation, dramatically reducing transaction time while maintaining security through the pre-established trust relationships.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of transmitting complete digital certificates during communication, the patent uses simplified representations (public keys or certificate identifiers) that reference the pre-stored full certificates in both devices. This copying approach reduces the data exchanged during transactions while maintaining the security benefits of full certificate validation.
3Reliability
If complete digital certificates are transmitted during authentication, then authentication security is improved, but communication speed deteriorates due to large-payload data exchange
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential authentication information (public keys or certificate identifiers) for transmission during communication, while storing the complete digital certificates locally in both devices. This extraction approach maintains authentication security through the use of full certificates for verification while dramatically improving communication speed by transmitting only minimal data during the actual transaction.
Data Source
AI summary
In some embodiments, fast and secure communication can be achieved (e.g., in a fueling environment payment system) with systems and methods that validate an authentication request based on one or more pre-validated cryptographic keys.