Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a technology developed at Oxford University that could offer a replacement to checks, allowing people a secure way to pay in practically any situation.

The Story: The announcement on December 16th by the board of the UK Payments Council has heightened the need for secure replacement payment systems that checks are to be phased out by 2018.

New security technology developed at Oxford University by Professor Bill Roscoe and his team that allows people to make payments via mobile phones, offers a solution. The technology is designed to work in almost all situations: person to person, in a shop or restaurant, at a vending machine, online, or even as part of a telephone conversation.

Isis Innovation, the University of Oxford’s technology transfer company, is working with Professor Roscoe to commercialize the technology. ”A key requirement of new payment systems will be the ability to make payments from person to person, such as paying a builder or a friend,” said Professor Roscoe of Oxford University’s Computing Laboratory. “What we have is technology which enables anyone to easily create a secure connection between two devices: it can work via Bluetooth, WiFi, the internet or across ordinary telephone or SMS connections.

‘The core of our technology is a new security protocol that enables strong cryptographic keys to be created with the least possible work. The key to the protocol is that it prevents anyone from doing any searching to break into the transaction,” Roscoe added.

The Oxford technology uses a system in which the payer identifies whether a short numeric code (4-8 digits for most applications) generated within their own phone is the same as the one generated by the payee. This number is random and does not have to be kept secret. This ensures that the customer’s mobile phone is connected to the correct store, or to the technology of the person they wish to pay. Payment then occurs without the exchange of sensitive details such as credit card numbers or even a PIN.