Secure Payment Tokenization via Intermediary Server
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing digital wallet systems for online purchases pose security risks by transmitting highly confidential payment credentials to potentially untrustworthy merchant sites, which can lead to data breaches and fraudulent activities.
Innovation Solution
A secure server generates a token using the payment credentials stored by the wallet provider, which is then provided to the merchant server for payment transactions, ensuring that the payment credentials are never exposed to the merchant, and the token is specific to both the merchant and the payment card, preventing unauthorized use.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If payment credentials are transmitted to the merchant server for processing, then payment transactions can be completed, but security risks increase as credentials may be compromised if the merchant's security is breached
Solution Approach 1:
A secure server is introduced as an intermediary between the wallet provider and the merchant server. The secure server receives payment credentials from the wallet provider, generates tokens, and transmits only these tokens to the merchant server. This intermediary layer ensures that sensitive payment credentials never directly contact the merchant server, thereby eliminating the security risk of credential exposure while maintaining payment transaction functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of transmitting the actual payment credentials to the merchant server, the system creates and transmits a token that copies the essential functionality of the credentials without containing the sensitive information. The token serves as a functional substitute that allows the merchant server to process payments without ever having access to the real payment credentials, thus solving the contradiction between transaction completion and security.
2Adaptability or versatility
If payment credentials are stored and transmitted through multiple servers, then payment functionality is enabled, but the risk of data breaches and fraudulent activities increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sensitive payment credentials are extracted from the transmission path between the wallet provider and the merchant server. Only non-sensitive token information is transmitted to the merchant server, while the actual credentials remain confined to the secure server environment. This extraction eliminates the risk of credential exposure during transmission and storage at the merchant server, while preserving payment functionality through the token mechanism.
3Reliability
If tokens are made merchant-specific, then fraud prevention is improved, but system complexity increases due to token generation and management requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The secure server acts as an intermediary that handles the complexity of token generation and management. It receives payment credentials from the wallet provider, generates merchant-specific tokens, and manages the token lifecycle. This centralizes the complex operations in a secure environment while presenting a simplified interface to the merchant server, which only needs to handle tokens without understanding their complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and system are presented for making a secure payment transaction using a payment card associated with a consumer which has been registered with a digital wallet. A secure server is arranged, in response to a request from a merchant server in relation to the consumer, to extract from the digital wallet payment credentials for the payment card. The secure server uses the payment credentials and the identity of the merchant server to generate a token. The token is provided to the merchant. To effect a payment transaction, the merchant server returns the token to the secure server with details of the desired payment transaction, and the secure server arranges for the payment transaction to occur, and notifies the merchant server. The merchant server does not receive the payment credentials of the payment card during this process, so even if its security is compromised, the payment credentials are not at risk.