Secure email authentication system for completing e-commerce transactions

A computer-implemented method for improving security of an e-commerce transaction using electronic mail, the method comprising:

• receiving, at an e-commerce system from a vendor website, order details for a transaction, the order details including a customer email address and transaction information;
• generating a token for the transaction or receiving the token from the vendor website;
• transmitting a confirmation request email message to the customer email address, the confirmation request email message requesting authorization to complete the transaction;
• receiving a reply email message from the customer email address, the reply email message including the token and confirming or canceling the transaction;
• parsing a sender of the reply email message;
• parsing the token in a decoding process;
• determining, in a first stage of the decoding process, a merchant for which the token is valid;
• using a public key for the merchant to decrypt an encrypted portion of the token and validate authenticity of the token;
• authenticating the reply email message using the customer email address and the token;
• and
• transmitting a confirmation of the transaction to the vendor website.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

• receive, from a vendor website, order details for a transaction, the order details including a customer email address and transaction information;
• cause transmission of a first email message requesting authorization to complete the transaction;
• receive a second email message from the customer email address, the second email message including a token and confirming or canceling the transaction;
• parse a sender of the second email message;
• parse the token in a decoding process;
• determine, in a first stage of the decoding process, a merchant for which the token is valid;
• use a public key for the merchant to decrypt an encrypted portion of the token and validate authenticity of the token;
• authenticate the second email message using the customer email address and the token;
• and
• transmit a confirmation of the transaction to a vendor website.