A Simple Secure M-Commerce Protocol SSMCP*

The trend in technology is such that small lightweight lowcomplexity devices, like PDAs, cell-phones, . . .,will become one of the more predominant computing platforms. Consequently, these devices will play an increasing role in e-commerce and mcommerce transactions. In the past, the role of the merchant has been played by workstations/servers, but due to advancements in wireless communications, like Bluetooth, we should expect more peer-to-peer e-commerce/m-commerce transactions and hence we should expect more lightweight devices playing the role of merchants. Here we develop secure efficient m-commerce protocol SSMCP*. This is a low-complexity protocol that is both efficient for mobile lightweight customers as well as mobile lightweight merchants. SSMCP* is both efficient in terms of bandwidth, eliminating any redundant information, as well as efficient in terms of rounds of communication. Further, SSMCP* addresses the important issue of a fair commitment to the transaction between the merchant and the customer.