Proxy Re-Encryption for Payment Network PIN Security
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing payment ecosystem incurs significant costs and performance bottlenecks due to the widespread use of Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) for secure PIN transmission, which are required to comply with PCI regulations and handle high transaction volumes, especially during peak times.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that utilize proxy re-encryption techniques to securely transmit PINs and sensitive data across the payment network, generating and re-encrypting ciphertexts with public and secret keys, reducing the need for HSMs at intermediaries and enhancing throughput by allowing re-encryption without decrypting the ciphertext.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If HSMs are deployed at each intermediary to securely transmit PINs, then security compliance with PCI regulations is achieved, but infrastructure costs and device complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the decryption function from intermediaries and relocates it to the consumer bank. HSMs are only deployed at the consumer bank (issuer) rather than at every intermediary, eliminating the need for intermediaries to have HSMs while maintaining security compliance. The PIN is encrypted at the POS terminal and remains encrypted throughout the network until it reaches the consumer bank where it is decrypted by the consumer bank's HSM.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a new cryptographic mechanism (proxy re-encryption) that acts as an intermediary solution. Instead of requiring HSMs at each intermediary, the system uses re-encryption keys that allow intermediaries to transform ciphertext from one encryption scheme to another without decrypting it. This mediator mechanism enables secure transmission through intermediaries without requiring them to possess HSMs.
2Productivity
If HSMs are deployed at each intermediary to handle high transaction volumes, then throughput capability is improved, but infrastructure costs and device complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the throughput bottleneck by extracting the decryption operation from intermediaries. Since intermediaries no longer need to decrypt PINs, they can process transactions without being limited by HSM performance. The decryption is performed only at the consumer bank, which has sufficient computing resources, allowing intermediaries to scale transaction processing without additional HSM infrastructure.
3Reliability
If HSMs are used for PIN decryption at intermediaries, then security is maintained, but performance bottlenecks occur during traffic spikes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the decryption operation from the transaction path at intermediaries and relocates it to the consumer bank. This eliminates the performance bottleneck because intermediaries no longer perform decryption operations that are limited by HSM capacity. During traffic spikes, intermediaries can process transactions at full speed while the consumer bank handles decryption at its own pace, preventing system-wide bottlenecks.
4Reliability
If HSMs are deployed across all intermediaries, then PCI compliance is achieved, but maintenance burden and operational complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the HSM requirement from the intermediary infrastructure and concentrates it only at the consumer bank. This dramatically reduces the maintenance burden because there is only one HSM to maintain at the consumer bank instead of multiple HSMs at every intermediary. The consumer bank already has HSM infrastructure for other purposes, so the additional maintenance burden is minimal while achieving full PCI compliance.
Data Source
AI summary
A method, system, and computer program product generate, with a payment network, a first value (a) and a second value (ga), the second value (ga) based on the first value (a) and a generator value (g); generate, with the payment network, a plurality of random merchant numbers (mi) for a respective plurality of merchant banks; determine, with the payment network, a merchant product (M) based on a product of the plurality of random merchant numbers (mi); generate, with the payment network, a public key (pki) based on the second value (ga), the merchant product (M), and the random merchant number (mi) and a random key (rki) based on the merchant product (M) and the random merchant number (mi) for each respective merchant bank; and communicate, with the payment network, the public key (pki) and the random key (rki) to at least one respective merchant bank.