Trusted Execution Environment for Secure Payment Transactions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Mobile devices face challenges in securing sensitive data, particularly for payment transactions, due to the risk of data exposure from lost or stolen devices, malware, and inadequate user control over data access.
Innovation Solution
An electronic device with a trusted execution environment (TEE) is implemented, which includes a secure world for sensitive data storage and access, using a trusted user interface (TUI) for authentication and encryption, ensuring that sensitive operations, such as payment transactions, are performed within a secure hardware environment, preventing unauthorized access and data leakage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If sensitive data is stored on a mobile terminal, then the device provides convenient access to payment and personal information, but the data becomes vulnerable to unauthorized access from lost or stolen devices and malware
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the execution environment into two distinct segments: a normal environment for general application execution and a trusted execution environment (TEE) for sensitive operations. The TEE is implemented as a separate secure world with isolated memory spaces and protected execution contexts, allowing sensitive data to be stored and processed in a segregated, secure compartment that is inaccessible to applications running in the normal environment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a trusted application (TA) running within the TEE as an intermediary layer between the user's sensitive data and external access requests. This TA acts as a secure mediator that authenticates users, manages cryptographic keys, and controls data access without exposing sensitive information to the normal environment or external attackers, even when the device is compromised.
2Adaptability or versatility
If user-controlled access to data is implemented, then users can manage data permissions, but the complexity of access control mechanisms increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements self-service access control where users directly manage their own data permissions through intuitive interfaces. Users can grant, revoke, and modify access permissions for applications to their sensitive data without requiring administrator intervention or complex configuration. The TEE automatically enforces these user-defined policies, simplifying the user experience while maintaining strong security controls.
3Reliability
If a secure environment is created for sensitive operations, then data protection is enhanced, but the device architecture becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The trusted execution environment is implemented as a nested secure layer within the existing mobile device architecture. The TEE is embedded within the device's processor, creating a hierarchical structure where the secure world is nested inside the normal operating system environment. This nested architecture allows the secure environment to leverage the device's existing hardware and software infrastructure while maintaining isolation and security, minimizing the increase in overall system complexity.
4Object-affected harmful factors
If encryption is applied to data at rest, then data security is improved, but processing speed and access efficiency are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary decryption of sensitive data within the TEE before processing operations. Cryptographic keys are pre-loaded into the secure environment, and data is decrypted in advance within the protected TEE context, allowing fast processing of plaintext data without requiring repeated encryption/decryption cycles during normal operations. This preliminary action maintains security while improving processing efficiency.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method for operating an electronic device includes receiving a message for requesting to perform an operation and performing the requested operation in a secure environment of the electronic device based on a security level of the requested operation.