IBM Develops NFC Authentication Technology

The technology is designed to protect NFC-based mobile transactions from hackers.

IBM announced it has developed a new mobile payments authentication security technology based on near-field communication(NFC) technology.

According to IBM, a user engaging in a mobile transaction would hold a contactless smartcard next to the NFC reader of the mobile device and after keying in their PIN, a one-time code would be generated by the card and sent to the server by the mobile device. The technology is based on end-to-end encryption between the smartcard and the server using the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) scheme. Current technologies on the market require users to carry an additional device, such as a random password generator, IBM stated.

The company said it specifically sought to create additional security measures for NFC-based devices due to their increasing usage. IBM cited a survey that stated the number of NFC devices in use will exceed 500 million in 2014.

"This statistic and the fact that 1 billion mobile phone users will use their devices for banking purposes by 2017 make for an increasingly opportune target for hackers," the company stated.

Bryan Yurcan is associate editor for Bank Systems and Technology. He has worked in various editorial capacities for newspapers and magazines for the past 8 years. After beginning his career as a municipal and courts reporter for daily newspapers in upstate New York, Bryan has ... View Full Bio