misc edits based on Neal's comments

This commit is contained in:
Christian Grothoff 2016-05-15 18:03:46 +02:00
parent 5aa6e1f608
commit adb08692f5

View File

@ -887,14 +887,10 @@ especially payment systems that represent substantial value---is a
hard challenge, as evidenced by large-scale break-ins with millions of
consumer card records being illicitly copied~\cite{target}.
Thus, we cannot ignore the usability at the merchant site when trying
to understand the usability of a payment system, especially as for
deployment we will have to convince millions of merchants that the
Taler system is advantageous. The high-level cryptographic design
already provides the first major advantage, as merchants do never
Taler simplifies the deployment of a secure payment system for
merchants. The high-level cryptographic design
provides the first major advantage, as merchants never
receive sensitive payment-related customer information. Thus, they do
% FIXME as *it* is ?
% CG: both are OK in English, ``it'' can be omitted here.
not have to be subjected to costly audits or certified hardware, as is
commonly the case for processing card payments~\cite{pcidss}. In fact,
the exchange does not need to have a formal business relationship with
@ -954,55 +950,57 @@ processing {\em backend} for the Web shops.
execute sensitive cryptographic operations in a
secured background/backend that is protected against direct access.
Interactions with the Taler exchange from the wallet background
to withdraw coins and the Taler backend (Figure~\ref{fig:system})
to withdraw coins and the Taler backend
to deposit coins are not shown.
Existing system security mechanisms
are used to isolate the cryptographic components (boxes) from
the complex rendering logic (circles), hence the communication
is restricted to JavaScript signals or HTTP(S) respectively.}
is restricted to JavaScript signals or HTTP(S), respectively.}
\label{fig:frobearch}
\end{figure*}
Figure~\ref{fig:frobearch} shows how the secure payment components
interact with the existing Web shop logic. First, the Web shop
frontend is responsible for constructing the shopping cart. For this,
the shop frontend generates the usual Web pages which are shown to the
user's browser client frontend. Once the order has been constructed,
the shop frontend gives a {\em proposed contract} in JSON format to the
the shop frontend generates the usual Web pages, which are transmitted to the
customer's browser. Once the order has been constructed,
the shop frontend provides a {\em proposed contract} in JSON format to the
payment backend, which signs it and returns it to the frontend. The frontend
then transfers the signed contract over the network, and passes it to the
wallet (sample code for this is in Figure~\ref{listing:contract}).
Here, the wallet operates from a secure {\em background} on the client side,
which allows the user to securely accept the payment, and to perform
the cryptographic operations in a context that is protected from the
Web shop. In particular, it is secure against a merchant that
generates a page that looks like the payment page from the wallet
wallet (sample code for this is shown in Figure~\ref{listing:contract}).
Here, the wallet operates from a secure {\em background} context on the
client side. From this background context the wallet allows the user to
securely accept the payment. By running in the background context,
the wallet can performs the cryptographic operations protected from the
Web shop. In particular, the architecture is secure against a merchant that
generates a page that looks like the wallet's payment page
(Figure~\ref{subfig:payment}), as such a page would still not have
access to the private keys of the coins that are in the wallet. If
access to the private keys of the coins that are exclusive to the background
context. If
the user accepts, the resulting signed coins are transferred from the
client to the server, again by a protocol that the merchant can
client to the server again using a protocol that the merchant can
customize to fit the existing infrastructure.
Instead of adding any cryptographic logic to the merchant frontend,
the generic Taler merchant backend allows the implementor to delegate
handling of the coins to the payment backend, which validates the
coins, deposits them at the exchange, and finally validates and
persists the receipt from the exchange. The merchant backend then
communicates the result of the transaction to the front\-end, which is
then responsible for executing the business logic to fulfill the
order. As a result of this setup, the cryptographic details of the
Taler protocol do not have to be re-implemented by each merchant.
Instead, existing Web shops implemented in a multitude of programming
languages can rather trivially add support for Taler by {\bf (0)}
detecting in the browser that Taler is available, {\bf (1)} upon
request, generating a contract in JSON based on the shopping cart,
{\bf (2)} allowing the backend to sign the contract before sending it
to the client, {\bf (7)} passing coins received in payment for a
contract to the backend and {\bf (8)} executing fulfillment business
logic if the backend confirms the validity of the payment.
coin handling to the payment backend, which validates the coins,
deposits them at the exchange, and finally validates and persists the
receipt from the exchange. The merchant backend then communicates the
result of the transaction to the front\-end, which is then responsible
for executing the business logic to fulfill the order. As a result of
this setup (Figure~\ref{fig:frobearch}), the cryptographic details
of the Taler protocol do not have to be re-implemented by each
merchant. Instead, existing Web shops implemented in a multitude of
programming languages can straightforwardly add support for Taler by:
{\bf (0)} detecting in the browser that Taler is available; {\bf (1)}
upon request, generating a contract in JSON based on the shopping
cart; {\bf (2)} allowing the backend to sign the contract before
sending it to the client; {\bf (7)} passing coins received in payment
for a contract to the backend; and, {\bf (8)} executing fulfillment
business logic if the backend confirms the validity of the payment.
To setup a Taler backend, the merchant only needs to let it know his wire
transfer routing details, such as an IBAN number. Ideally, the
transfer routing details, such as his IBAN number. Ideally, the
merchant might also want to obtain a certificate for the public key
generated by the backend for improved authentication. Otherwise, the
customer's authentication of the Web shop simply continues to rely