Abstract
M.Sc. (Computer Science)
Electronic transactions have become a common occurrence in modern society, where they are used to pay for numerous goods and services. As these transactions deal with such an important matter as personal and business finance, it is vital to ensure that these transactions are secure.
Unfortunately, this is not necessarily the case. Modern electronic transactions possess several vulnerabilities which make it possible for criminals to exploit them for their own gain. These transactions typically make use of payment cards, which are presented at the start of a transaction, and the cards introduce some of the vulnerabilities to the transactions.
Lost and stolen debit cards account for 46.3% of financial losses in 2015, and counterfeit debit card losses make up 31.5% (Sabric, 2015). Sabric goes on to state that counterfeit cards are responsible for 19.2% of credit card losses in 2015, where the bulk of the losses for credit cards, 75%, are a result of card not present (CNP) fraud.
This makes it clear that modern electronic transactions need more secure verification and authentication measures to mitigate potential losses from crime. This dissertation proposes a solution by putting forward the South African National ID Card (NID) as a more secure alternative to current payment cards, and claiming that it would improve the security of electronic transactions if it were to be used.
At the time of writing, it is not possible to gain access to the capabilities of the NID due to lack of collaboration and support from the Department of Home Affairs, which necessitates the creation of an NID simulation, which will provide the same capabilities as that of an actual NID.
The goal of this dissertation is the creation of IDPay (S), a prototype system that will mimic an electronic transaction environment that will make use of a simulated NID. IDPay (S), will then be run and evaluated to ascertain whether the NID could serve as a more secure alternative to modern payment cards.