A proposed approach to enhance user PIN in the mobile money ecosystem in Ghana

The use of only numeric numbers as the base for the USSD PIN rather than alphanumeric was one of the security risks in the USSD mobile money services. The study objective is to assess the security threats posed by user PINs in the mobile money banking ecosystem and to enhance the service quality of the existing mobile money service with its high level of security threats prone to the mobile money industry. The study aims to shed light on the consumer acceptability requirements for mobile banking in particular areas of the consumer usage pattern, which will inform the industry players to strengthen such areas in consumer interest. This will help both the telecoms to understand the individuals and customise services based on the service needs of users of their product. This will aid the operators to cut costs and help improve the security infrastructure in other countries to cover to rope in more users, and to serve the unbanked in the hinterlands of the country. There is a growing demand for the adoption of mobile money services in Ghana. However, there is insufficient research to understand the risk associated with the adoption of the service. It is on this trend that, the study sought to reveal and understand the threat in the nature of user PIN used in the mobile money service. This study encapsulates, with the extension on demographic scope, which included workers, students, employed and unemployed who have adopted mobile money services the study adopted an exploratory method, to understand the main threats of the user PIN in relation to the mobile money application adopted in Ghana. This also included a survey question for users’ responses on the nature of use. The study included 57 participants to uncover the vulnerability of users’ PINs in mobile money services. The study’s findings revealed that the length could be increased. The current size of the PIN stack was set to four for convenience and user-friendliness, with little thought given to the threat such a length could pose in financial transactions involving mobile money banking. The mobile money PIN solution provided will enable users not to be worried n about their accounts should users end up losing their handset and otherwise potentially harm their handsets because the merchandise is completely secure. The system is safeguarded by cutting-edge secure authentication, but also users’ funds are always secure because each transaction requires a secured alphanumeric password. The mobile payment process delivers individual clients with enhanced security but also lowers the need of carrying physical money but also ensures easy prompt payment of transactions of utilities. Individuals utilizing such services will manage to pay one’s bill payments from the comfort of their place of arbour and making it even easier to do so. The use of only a numeric key for PIN was far more convenient for users, but it also made them more vulnerable to attacks. The standard PIN length in the current USSD mobile money application was four numeric keys. The indication was that the PIN length was too simple for a simple system to break through. The study proposed solution where mobile money users can increase their user PIN to six characters, and include alphanumeric keys. The study will help reduce the increasing threat of mobile money fraud in the FinTech industry.