IDENTITY VERIFICATION SYSTEM USING NETWORK INITIATED USSD

摘要

The invention provides a method and means of authenticating a user in a communications session (such as an on-line payment) on a first communications channel (such as the Internet 12). In a preliminary step, data pertaining to the user and a user-operated mobile phone 24 is stored in a data store 18 that is in communication with the first communication channel. In this step, data uniquely associated with the phone SIM, preferably the SIM IMSI is recorded along with more general user data, including the mobile phone number or MS ISDN. The communications session triggers an out-of-band authentication of the communications session on a second channel established between the mobile phone 24 and the service provider 22 associated with the phone using network initiated Unstructured Supplementary Services Data (USSD). The USSD session is used to handle the out-of-band authentication process.