Pardis Pourghomi

A Proposed NFC Payment Application

Near Field Communication (NFC) technology is based on a short range radio communication channel which enables users to exchange data between devices. With NFC technology, mobile services establish a contactless transaction system to make the payment methods easier for people. Although NFC mobile services have great potential for growth, they have raised several issues which have concerned the researches and prevented the adoption of this technology within societies. Reorganizing and describing what is required for the success of this technology have motivated us to extend the current NFC ecosystem models to accelerate the development of this business area. In this paper, we introduce a new NFC payment application, which is based on our previous “NFC Cloud Wallet” model [1] to demonstrate a reliable structure of NFC ecosystem. We also describe the step by step execution of the proposed protocol in order to carefully analyse the payment application and our main focus will be on the Mobile Network Operator (MNO) as the main player within the ecosystem.

Towards NFC payments using a lightweight architecture for the Web of Things

The Web (and Internet) of Things has seen the rapid emergence of new protocols and standards, which provide for innovative models of interaction for applications. One such model fostered by the Web of Things (WoT) ecosystem is that of contactless interaction between devices. Near Field Communication (NFC) technology is one such enabler of contactless interactions. Contactless technology for the WoT requires all parties to agree one common definition and implementation and, in this paper, we propose a new lightweight architecture for the WoT, based on RESTful approaches. We show how the proposed architecture supports the concept of a mobile wallet, enabling users to make secure payments employing NFC technology with their mobile devices. In so doing, we argue that the vision of the WoT is brought a step closer to fruition.

A Secure Cloud-Based NFC Mobile Payment Protocol

Near Field Communication (NFC) is one the most recent technologies in the area of application development and service delivery via mobile phone. NFC enables the mobile phone to act as identification and a credit card for customers. Dynamic relationships of NFC ecosystem players in an NFC transaction process make them partners in a way that sometimes they should share their access permissions on the applications that are running in the service environment. One of the technologies that can be used to ensure secure NFC transactions is cloud computing which offers wide range advantages compare to the use of a Secure Element (SE) as a single entity in an NFC enabled mobile phone. In this paper, we propose a protocol based on the concept of NFC mobile payments. Accordingly, we present an extended version of the NFC cloud Wallet model [14], in which, the Secure Element in the mobile device is used for customer authentication whereas the customers banking credentials are stored in a cloud under the control of the Mobile Network Operator (MNO). In this circumstance, Mobile Network Operator plays the role of network carrier which is responsible for controlling all the credentials transferred to the end user. The proposed protocol eliminates the requirement of a shared secret between the Point-of-Sale (POS) and the Mobile Network Operator before execution of the protocol, a mandatory requirement in the earlier version of this protocol [16]. This makes it more practicable and user friendly. At the end, we provide a detailed analysis of the protocol where we discuss multiple attack scenarios.

Ecosystem scenarios for cloud-based NFC payments

As a short range wireless communication technology which consists of a set of standards for smartphones and similar devices, Near Field Communication (NFC) provides wide range of services from payment and access cards to loyalty applications. NFC facilitates the integration of such services into a single mobile device. Having several parties involved in NFC services and not having a common standard for it has raised a major effect on the adoption of this technology within developing industries. This is because all parties are claiming to have access to clients information such as bank account details. Consequently, payment application personalization, ownership and management as well as NFC ecosystem architecture have created several security issues that could be exploitable by attackers. Since NFC technology has lately emerged, there are not much academic sources available yet. As a result, there are plenty of confusions regarding NFC implementation business case options. This paper presents the concept of NFC ecosystem and discusses the previously proposed NFC cloud wallet model [14]. Moreover, further exploration of this model is carried out by considering some implementation assumptions in order to define a clear NFC ecosystem model.

Corporate Responsibility in Combating Online Misinformation

In the age of mass information and misinformation, the corporate duty of developers of browsers, social media, and search engines are falling short of the minimum standards of responsibility. The tools and technologies are already available to combat misinformation online but the desire to integrate these tools has not taken enough priority to warrant action. This paper presents an effective and practical method based on technologies already available that could be used for browsers and social media websites that would help combat misinformation presented in the form of photo evidence, video evidence, or textual evidence the authors have termed as the “Right-click Authenticate” every browser and social media website should have.

Trusted integration of cloud-based NFC transaction players

Near Field Communication (NFC) is a short range wireless technology that provides contactless transmission of data between devices. With an NFC enabled device, users can exchange information from one device to another, make payments and use their NFC enabled device as their identity. As the main payment ecosystem players such as service providers and secure element issuers have crucial roles in a multi-application mobile environment similar to NFC, managing such an environment has become very challenging. One of the technologies that can be used to ensure secure NFC transaction is cloud computing which offers wide range of advantages compare to the use of a Secure Element (SE) as a single entity in an NFC enabled phone. This approach provides a comprehensive leadership of the cloud provider towards managing and controlling customers information where it allows the SE which is stored within an NFC phone to deal with authentication mechanisms rather than storing and managing sensitive transaction information. This paper discusses the NFC cloud Wallet model which has been proposed by us previously [1] and introduces a different insight that defines a new integrated framework based on a trusted relationship between the vendor and the Mobile Network Operator (MNO). We then carry out an analysis of such a relationship to investigate different possibilities that arise from this approach.