Development of a secure multi-factor authentication algorithm for mobile money applications

Abstract

A Thesis Submitted in Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Information and Communication Science and Engineering of the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AISTWith the expansion of industry 4.0, financial technology (FinTech) has become paramount in this era. Mobile money as one of the FinTech has immensely contributed to improving financial inclusions among the unbanked population in many developing countries. Several mobile money schemes were developed to ensure easy access to mobile money services. However, they have suffered severe authentication security challenges since implementing two-factor authentication (2FA). Therefore, this research developed a secure multi-factor authentication (MFA) algorithm for mobile money applications that combines personal identification number (PIN), one-time password (OTP), and biometric fingerprints to authenticate the mobile money subscribers. It also used the customer’s biometric fingerprints and the agent’s quick response (QR) code to authorise money withdrawal. The PINs and OTP are secured by secure hashing algorithm-256 (SHA-256) and biometric fingerprints by Fast IDentity Online (FIDO), where the Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) encryption protects the public/private key pair and the fingerprint templates. The QR codes, confidential financial information in the databases, and all the data before transmission to the remote databases are secured using Fernet encryption. A design science research approach was employed in the research using a mixed-method. The review results identified and grouped the threat models into attacks against privacy, authentication, confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The cryptographic functions and personal identification were the countermeasures. The survey identified authentication attacks, identity theft, phishing attacks, and PIN sharing as the crucial security issues Uganda’s mobile money systems encountered. The security analysis of the designed algorithm and developed native genuine mobile money (G-MoMo) applications proved that it provided robust security during authentication and ensured data confidentiality, integrity, privacy and user anonymity. It is highly effective against several security attacks and resilient to non-repudiation. The performance analysis results showed that the algorithm enhanced security but had high communication overhead and computational cost. Lack of a forward navigation button, lack of uniformity in the applications menu title, lack of search field options, lack of actions needed for recovery, and lack of help & documentation, were identified as the results of the usability issues with the native G-MoMo applications’ user interfaces. While the results of the usability testing showed that the native G-MoMo applications were learnable, effective, efficient, memorable, had few errors, satisfaction, ease of use, aesthetic, helpful, easy to integrate, and understandable. In conclusion, implementing a secure mobile money authentication using the ii novel approach combining multiple factors helps mobile money subscribers and other stakeholders trust the mobile money industry since the security goals are highly maintained