The Internet is a cost-effective channel for the sale and
support of goods and services. Without a secure, easy to use and mobile
solution for identification and ePayments, the growth and the success of
eCommerce is at risk. As an advocate of the Internet and the power of 3DAS™,
Unicate set itself the following objective:
To design a solution that will
achieve all the goals of SET, overcome all the obstacles imposed by the
complexity of SET, and deliver the mobility and security promised by EMV.
This required Unicate to develop a solution that would
specifically:
1. Resolve the Internet security issues.
2. Ensure that the act of payment is easy to use, safe, secure and mobile.
3. Avoid the cost and complexity of PKi and processor intensive approaches.
4. Protect the investment in the EFTPOS infrastructure by eliminating any need to modify these networks.
The result is a solution without expensive Certificate Authorities, laborious processor
dependent Public Key verification, the complex legal issues of data encryption,
and the need to upgrade legacy EFTPOS networks, or complex Internet protocols.
This solution, called E*MERGE,
is made possible by Unicate's unique 3DAS™ technology. The use of the parallax
of a Three-Dimensional Authentication System provides the basis for a coherent
transaction and payment mechanism. It is simple to use, efficient to manage,
and is not complicated by complex cryptography. It assures all parties of authenticity, confidentiality, transaction
integrity, mobility and irrefutability.
In 1994, Unicate discovered that by employing non-woven
fibers and stereoscopic imaging technology, an authentication mechanism could
be made that was cost-effective, process efficient and impervious to external
attack. Research performed by TNO (the Dutch National Laboratory) revealed that
the digital representation of this three dimensional authentication system,
known as the "3DAS™
Table", is capable of assuring that
the item associated with the marker is unique in a sample of 1036.
The result is a cost-effective method for providing the highest level of
security allowed by international regulations. (See Appendix I for 3DAS™ details)
Unicate and its team of experts have developed its 3DAS™ technology to produce a Card Authentication
Method "CAM". This gives the issuing bank the following benefits:
Cost-effectiveness: An external business model produced by an international payment
association has demonstrated that the 3DASTM approach is a minimum
US$ 10-15 billion less expensive over a five year aggregate than the prevailing
Visa and MasterCard plans to deploy Smart Cards to combat counterfeit fraud.
Using 3DASTM, cash flow will be positive within the third year
whereas Smart Cards continue to be negative beyond the fifth year.
1.
Secure card authentication and PIN verification without cryptographic
technology: The
3DASTM approach can implement on-line PIN without the need for any
expensive cryptographic technology inside the public network. 3DASTM provides
data integrity, data confidentiality and transaction irrefutability (see
below). This enables the use of PIN-based debit and credit cards on the
Internet. A capability that does not yet exist.
2.
Transaction integrity and irrefutability: To guarantee the integrity of
card-based payment systems, Unicate has developed an effective algorithm, which
creates a CAM that fits into as few as four digits. This allows the 3DASTM
approach to protect magnetic stripe cards in today's point of sale
networks. The approach does not require any modifications to the existing
EFTPOS systems, ATM networks or computer systems.
3.
Security against criminal attack: Compared with current chip technology, the
3DASä approach is not open to criminal
attack by digital replay or cloning of the smart card.