27 September - 3 October 2001

100% secure transactions on the Internet

by David Kelleher

An Australian company specialising in electronic payments and secure credit card processing will be using Malta as a launchpad for its new product – Smartcarde.com.
ePayment Solutions, based in Queensland, will be launching their newly-developed Smartcarde technology on 1 December in Malta and the company has earmarked the island to become the first country in the world to start using these cards.
Using Smartcarde technology, internet users are guaranteed 100 per cent security against computer fraud because no personal details are given out over the internet. Not only does the user stand to benefit but banks and retailers will not be prone to problems arising from fraud claims.
In a telephone interview from his office in Australia, director Tony Brown told The Malta Business Weekly that his company had been developing the technology for the past year and a half.
“Smartcarde.com has been designed to offer the public a secure method of trading transactions on the Internet. Our intent was to produce a system that also works in securing the banks and Internet merchants in a similar 100 per cent guaranteed fashion,” Mr Brown said.
“Our main aim is to eliminate credit card fraud as much as possible and the Smartcarde is one step towards doing so because no
personal information is given out over the Internet when transactions are made,” he explained.
“Smart cards are already in use in other sectors however this will be the first to enable secure transactions over the Net. We have attended a number of international fairs, and casinos, hotels and other establishments have shown keen interest in our product,” Mr Brown told The Malta Business Weekly.
Asked why the company had chosen Malta to launch their product, Mr Brown said the island was a very unique hub in the centre of Europe.
“Another very important factor is the ‘emoney’ initiative that was launched by the Malta Financial Services Centre last week. Their idea encompasses the use of similar technologies and we hope to help Malta position the country as a leading centre for the management, processing and movement of money electronically.
“By way of this initiative, money can be managed, processed and moved electronically through mobile phones, personal computers and similar devices,” he added.
Mr Brown said Malta had all the necessary requisites for such a project to work and he was very encouraged to note that Maltese banks were also interested in using Smartcarde.
Explaining how the system works, Mr Brown said the Smartcarde.com systems will allow an end user to purchase a smartcarde, which is delivered to their home or office address. Then, in a secure environment online, the end user may enter a suitable PIN number. Using the card’s Public Key (secure identity of the card), which is then matched to the PIN number, a valid authentication of the user will be effected. Secure for validation the card can be used to purchase items over the Internet.
“While the card is in communication with our servers it may load the relevant information about the end users’ general banking, that credit card number and details. At this stage we have secured the end user’s address, bank details and also have a PIN code that only the cardholder knows,” he said.
In the same process of setting up for the upload facilities a direct debit authority (PDC) is generated and / or a digital signature is created for the cardholder.
“This digital signature is recognised currently in the US, Australia and Europe. Once the cardholder revisits the Smartcarde.com web servers for loading of fund to the card, a digital signature is attached to each transaction or match to PDC that has been authorised through the Public Key and PIN. This is then sent to the bank’s systems for clearing through a merchant account with the bank,” Mr Brown explained.
After the Smartcarde is authenticated, the cardholder can visit various merchants on the Internet who accept the cards and have the necessary card reader.
“What is important is that once on the website, the cardholder is not required to enter any details because they are already secured and authenticated against the Public Key and PIN. Cash stored electronically on the card is then transferred to the merchant account,” Mr Brown added.
Smartcarde.com are represented in Malta through PKF (Malta).