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| Smarticware Services/Offerings |
| Payment Cards, eBanking and eCommerce |
Common payment cards are credit cards (VISA, Master card etc) and bank debit cards. When paying with these cards you confirm the transaction by submitting a PIN code at the POS terminal which gives a reasonable security. However, credit card payments can also be confirmed by signing a slip and if you have to show an identity document you use a government issued ID card/document. Some credit card payments, e.g at parking terminals, do not require any confirmation from you at all.
The credit cards have a magnetic stripe holding card information. With the technology available today it is easy to copy this information and then you can easily produce a copy of the card. Purchasing with that card can then start immediately in all places where no PIN is required. To protect the cards from being copied the banks are now introducing chip based cards (EMV cards). Further, to stop the usage of stolen EMV cards all tranactions are to be confirmed by a PIN code. This "chip and PIN" solution is now being rolled out in many countries.
The banks have tried to introduce eCash on chip based banking cards many times but in almost all countries they have failed completely. However, with the introduction of contact less chips there seems to be a renaissance for eCash (now called contact less payment).
Banks have been very early to introduce eBanking which has been a tremendous success. The security level for Internet banks as well as for Stock trading sites varies between countries. In Northern Europe with high security requirements the main techniques used today are SSL channel over Internet and user authentication via one time passwords or PKI certificate solutions. There are also pilots going on to use mobile phones for user authentication (mobiles equipped with PKI SIM cards).
There are many ways to pay for goods and services in eCommerce applications, e.g credit cards, via your Internet bank, invoice, cash on delivery. The credit cards are very convenient, especially when buying from international sites. However, those solutions could be safer. In the same way there are no good standard solutions for micro payments available today. The mobile phone will most probably be a very important tool when paying over the network and in the real world (see separate section about Mobiles below). The whole payment area will develop a lot in the coming years as technology improves and standards emerge.
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