Online security protocol for NFC mobile payment applications

Abstract

Near Field Communication (NFC) is a short range wireless technology that allows exchange of data between devices communicating within a short distance. Recently, the NFC functionality has been integrated inside mobile devices to allow them act as identifiers for customers, credit cards, and access cards. Payment transaction using NFC-enabled Mobile devices is continuously increasing because of its speed, convenience, and ease of use. However, a widespread of NFC-based payment can be guaranteed, if and only if, the payment transactions are made in a secured wireless environment. Unfortunately, the Europay, Mastercard and Visa (EMV) protocol, which is currently used to provide the required security, has some serious vulnerabilities which could lead to obvious risks for users of NFC-based payments. This paper presents an effective solution to enhance the security of NFC payments by solving the vulnerabilities of the EMV protocol. The proposed protocol adds a security layer to the EMV protocol in order to ensure confidentiality of the transmitted banking data and to provide mutual authentication between the different actors of the NFC payment transactions.