Analysis of Applicability of ISO 9564 PIN based Authentication to Closed-Loop Mobile Payment Systems

Abstract: Payment transactions initiated through a mobile device are growing and security concerns must be ad-dressed. People coming from payment card industry often talk passionately about porting ISO 9564 PIN standard based authentication in open-loop card payment to closed-loop mobile financial transactions and certification of closed-loop payment product or solution against this standard. In reality, so far this standard has not been adopted in closed-loop mobile payment authentication and applicability of this ISO standard must be studied carefully before adoption. The authors do a critical analysis of the applicability of this ISO specification and makes categorical statement about relevance of compliance to closed-loop mobile payment. Security requirements for authentication in closed-loop mobile payment systems are not standardized through ISO 9564 standard, Common Criteria, etc. Since closed-loop mobile payment is a relatively new field, the authors make a case for Common Criteria Recognition Agreement (CCRA) or other standards organization to push for publication of a mobile device-agnostic Protection Profile or standard for it, incorporating the suggested authentication approaches.