Credit and charge card security technology and mechanism for e-commerce

摘要

In a credit transaction with a vendor, card and transaction details are encoded with an encryption algorithm to generate a unique transaction number that can be relayed to a vendor either personally or through use of an e-commerce environment. In relation to the encryption algorithm, this is supplied to a card-holder in the form of computer software which may be incorporated into a dedicated device or a computer terminal or the like. The vendor, in response to receipt of unique transaction number, communicates the unique transaction number to the card issuing authority such as a bank or the like which acts to decode the unique transaction number using a complementary decoding algorithm associated with the card-holder's encryption algorithm. The card issuing authority is then able to respond to the request of the vendor to authorise a line of credit for the card-holder. Consequently, the vendor is not directly appraised of all card and transaction details in the initial communication with the card-holder, thereby safeguarding potentially further fraudulent mis-use of the card and transaction details.