TESTING THE VALIDITY OF IDENTIFICATION CODES

摘要

A method and apparatus for testing the validity of personal identification numbers (PIN) entered at a transaction terminal of an electronic funds transfer network in which the PIN is not transmitted through the network. The PIN and the personal account number (PAN) are used to derive an authorisation parameter (DAP). A unique message is sent with the PAN to the host processor where the PAN is used to identify a valid authorisation parameter (VAP). The VAP is used to encode the unique message and the result (a message authentication code MAC) transmitted back to the transaction terminal. The terminal generates a parallel message authentication code by using the DAP to encode the unique message. The two MAC's are compared and the result of the comparison used to determine the validity of the PIN.