Patent ID: 7451926

Claim:
A front-end system that facilitates a more secure Point-of-Sale (POS) transaction environment, comprising: a front-end interface configured to attach to a POS component, the front-end interface intercepts data obtained directly from a payment instrument; and a security component that queries an external back-end component for an encryption key during a transaction, receives the encryption key transmitted by the external back-end component as plain-text, and encrypts the data using the encryption key, the front-end interface outputs the encrypted data; wherein the POS component receives a public key associated with the external back-end component with the public key defined by a financial institution, a financial association, or a payment processor, and wherein the public key is provided to the security component and employed to create the encrypted data, such that only the external back-end component decrypts the encrypted data with a private key, and such that neither sensitive data associated with the payment instrument nor tools needed to decode the encrypted data are accessible by the POS component.