Systems and Methods for Preventing Attacks on Online Auction Sales

A system for preventing attacks on auction sales of an online auction service within a network system, the system comprising an online auction server (A) providing an online auction service which comprises:

• hashing means which are configured to, upon notification by the notifying means of a trusted time server (T) providing a trusted time service at the closing time for submissions of a bid, send subsequently the trusted time server (T) a message containing a hashed value calculated from all successfully received bid offers;
• receiving means which are configured to receive back from the trusted time server (T) a timestamp to declare that the period for online auction is closed;
• and
• sending means which are configured to send the timestamped message to at least one buyer, wherein the at least one buyer comprises hashing means for verifying that a bid offer which the buyer submitted is included in the timestamped message by hashing its bid offer and comparing the result with the hashed value calculated from all successfully received bid offers.

A system for preventing attacks on auction sales of an online auction service, the system comprising:

• at least one buyer;
• a trusted time server (T) providing a trusted time service;
• and
• an auction server (A) providing an online auction service, wherein the system is configured to implement the method operations comprising an auction opening operation, a bid offering operation and an auction closing operation, wherein, in the auction closing operation, the auction server:
• receives a notification from the trusted time server (T) at the closing time for submissions of a bid;
• sends the trusted time server (T) a message containing a hashed value calculated from all bid offers of the at least one buyer which are successfully received;
• receives back from the trusted time server (T) a timestamp to declare that the period for online auction is closed;
• and
• sends the timestamped message to the at least one buyer which verifies that a bid offer, which the at least one buyer submitted, is included in the timestamped message by hashing its bid offer and comparing the result with the hashed value calculated from all successfully received bid offers.

A computer program product tangibly embodied on a recording medium for preventing attacks on online auction sales, the computer program product containing computer readable program code for causing, when executed, the computer of an online auction service to perform method operations comprising an auction opening operation, a bid offering operation and an auction closing operation, wherein, in the auction closing operation, the computer of the auction service executes processing comprising:

• receiving a notification from a trusted time service server (T) at a closing time for submissions of a bid;
• sending the trusted time service server (T) a message containing a hashed value calculated from all bid offers of at least one buyer which are successfully received;
• receiving back from the trusted time service server (T) a timestamped message to declare that a period for online auction is closed;
• and
• sending the timestamped message to the at least one buyer which verifies that a bid offer, which the at least one buyer submitted, is included in the timestamped message by hashing its bid offer and comparing a result with the hashed value calculated from all successfully received bid offers.