SCHEMATIC: SafePay

Yinzhi Cao, assistant professor of computer science and engineering, was on a train, reading a newspaper article about a retail store’s massive breach of customer information, when he had an idea about how to protect credit card information from theft.

Seeking to address the problem from the user end, Cao partnered with two colleagues from Northwestern University to develop SafePay, a low-cost, user-friendly solution that transforms disposable credit card numbers into electrical current and uses a magnetic card chip to simulate the behavior of a traditional magnetic card.

1. Download

The user downloads and executes the SafePay mobile banking app. During a transaction, the app communicates with the bank server, which provides the app with credit card numbers that expire after a limited time or a single use. Once it receives a card number, the app generates an audio file in wave format and plays the file to create electrical current.

1. Connect

The electrical current connects with the magnetic card chip via an audio jack or Bluetooth. In the absence of wireless Internet access, the mobile app can collect and store several card numbers for future use.

1. Swipe

The user swipes the magnetic card chip at a point of sale. The card chip is fully compatible with existing card readers and functions the same way as a magnetic card stripe on a credit card.