Secure electronic payments based on mobile agents

The SET protocol for secure electronic payments, in particular its purchasi ng phase, is intended for users connected to the Internet during the entire transaction. This requirement cannot be easily met in high communication c osts and/or low bandwidth settings, typically found in mobile computing env ironments. In this paper we describe SET/A, a system that works according to the SET r ules for purchasing operations without forcing the user to be connected dur ing the entire transaction. This is achieved by sending an agent to the mer chant's server carrying all the data necessary to order and pay the goods ( products, services or information). The paper shows that this can be achiev ed safely and efficiently, providing an alternative way for Internet paymen ts using the SET protocol. We give our first impressions on SET/A usage by describing a prototype implementation based on a mobile agent system called AgentSpace, as well as a detailed example of what we consider a realistic application of the system.