Mobile security leader Trustonic today announces a partnership with Rubean AG, an established mobile security-focused fintech, and CCV, a leading European payment solution provider, to develop an mPOS solution that accepts higher value transactions by enabling hardware-protected PIN entry on a range of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) smartphones.

Using a smartphone as a mobile point of sale (mPOS) solution enables traders, small retailers and SMBs to save money on costly payment acceptance hardware, improve staff efficiency and increase customer satisfaction. Payment platforms and solution providers also benefit, as they can eliminate the costs associated with procuring and managing traditional POS terminals. The ease of adding new functionalities to smartphone apps will also shorten time to market for innovative new digital marketing and customer loyalty features.

The Trustonic Application Protection (TAP) platform protects mobile applications by securing sensitive code, data and processes in a heavily protected environment. The environment also constantly upgrades over the course of an app’s lifecycle to take advantage of the most advanced hardware and software security technologies available on smartphones. The platform includes Trustonic’s Trusted User Interface (TUI), which isolates and protects sensitive input and display interactions – like PIN entry – in app UIs. The TAP development toolkit enables developers to easily develop and deploy apps, delivering the best protection available whatever the user’s device.

Through CCV’s server platform "acCEPT", both payment intelligence and security-critical elements can be mapped to smartphones via an app, as the payment processing takes place predominantly in the secure PCI-DSS cloud.

Rubean protects, personalizes and monitors CCV’s payment terminal client on smartphones in compliance with the payment schemes’ security requirements. As an essential part of Rubean’s infrastructure, TAP protects cardholder’ PIN entry, enabling higher-value transactions and increasing convenience for merchants and consumers.

Ben Cade, CEO of Trustonic, says: “Using smartphones to make payments instead of your card is already widely adopted by consumers, and using the same devices as contactless mPOS terminals for merchants is one of the most exciting and disruptive trends in the payment technology space.

“Using a TUI secured by a hardware-based Trusted Execution Environment is widely regarded as best practice for app-based mPOS implementations and, by using TAP, this is exactly what developers can achieve. This is nuanced security delivering simpler, richer and faster user experiences. We are committed to supporting the development of CCV & Rubean’s hardware-protected PhonePOS solution and its rollout on some of the world’s largest smartphone brands.”

Hermann Geupel, CEO of Rubean AG, comments: “The top payment schemes have supported the concept of a "smartphone-only" payment terminal since 2017. In response to increasing demand from banks and merchants, Rubean & CCV plan to launch a smartphone-only payment terminal with card PIN entry functionality with multiple card networks and partners throughout Europe. Trustonic’s TAP toolkit provides us with the most advanced and secure user interface for enabling secure PIN entry on COTS smartphones.”