Use of two-way cable transmissions to augment the security of the secure electronic transaction protocol

A system for authenticating an electronic financial transaction conducted between a user and a third party, the system comprising:

• (a) a terminal operated by the user, the user initiating the electronic financial transaction via the terminal;
• and
• (b) a cable distribution hub of a cable data network in communication with the terminal and the third party, the cable distribution hub including a validation server, the validation server including
• a parsing module to extract first and second identification attributes of the terminal respectively from first and second transmission messages sent from the terminal to the cable distribution hub and to look up a first user identifier and a second user identifier respectively in first and second sets of user identifiers residing in a database accessible by the validation server in response to the first and second identification attributes of the terminal;
• a comparator module coupled to the parsing module, the comparator module to compare the first user identifier with the second user identifier to validate identity of the user;
• and
• a decision module coupled to the comparator module, the decision module to
• interrupt the electronic financial transaction if there is a discrepancy detected by the comparator module between the first user identifier and the second user identifier;
• and
• allow the electronic financial transaction to proceed between the terminal and the third party if there is no discrepancy detected by the comparison module between the first user identifier and the second user identifier.

A method for authenticating an electronic financial transaction conducted between a user operating a terminal and a third party via two-way transmissions between the terminal and a cable distribution hub of a cable data network, the cable distribution hub including a validation server, the two-way transmissions using a multi-layer communication protocol, the method comprising:

• (a) extracting a first identification attribute of the terminal at a first level of the multi-layer communication protocol from a transmission message sent from the terminal to the cable distribution hub and looking up a first identity in a data base of user identifiers using the first identification attribute;
• (b) extracting a second identification attribute of the terminal at a second level of the multi-layer communication protocol from the transmission message sent from the terminal to the cable distribution hub, the second identification attribute differing from the first, and looking up a second identity in the data base of user identifiers using the second identification attribute;
• (c) comparing the first identity with the second identity to validate the user for the electronic financial transaction;
• (d) interrupting the electronic financial transaction when there is a discrepancy between the comparison of the first identity with the second identity;
• and
• (e) allowing the electronic financial transaction to proceed when there is no discrepancy between the comparison of the first identity with the second identity.