UK Railway In M-Payment Trial
UK railway operator Chiltern Railways is to launch a trial this August of a system that allows passengers to buy tickets from mobile phones using credit and debit cards.
The encryption technology for the pilot was developed by UK-based Masabi. Its Java-based EncryptMe application allows mobile phone users to make purchases from wireless Internet Websites. Because it only takes up 3K bytes of memory, EncryptMe can be downloaded via SMS text messaging links as well as over high-speed mobile data networks. Masabi says that BT, the largest UK telecoms operator, has officially validated and approved the cryptographic algorithms used in EncryptMe as meeting e-commerce industry standards. According to Ben Whitaker, MasabiÆs head of Security Development, EncryptMe marks a breakthrough in bringing a high level of transaction security to mobile phones. ôThe main reason Internet commerce has so far not been extended into the wireless market has been that most mobile handsets cannot support the security available on PCs, which is necessary to safely authenticate users,ö Whitaker says in a statement. Once a passenger has bought a ticket online, they then receive a bar code by SMS on their mobile phone. This barcode is scanned by automatic barriers at Chiltern Railways stations and by on-train inspectors, Masabi says. Now Chiltern Railways wants to make it easier for passengers to buy electronic tickets. It will use MasabiÆs application to enable passengers to buy tickets instantly on their mobile phones, without having to pre-register on a computer, it says. Related Links
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