An Enhanced Multifactor Authentication Framework for Mobile Money Transactions.

Boniphace, Paul Juma (2025) An Enhanced Multifactor Authentication Framework for Mobile Money Transactions. Masters thesis, The Open University of Tanzania.

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Abstract

Recently, mobile money transactions have become crucial to global finance, providing easy access and convenience for millions. However, with the rapid growth of these platforms, the risk of fraud and unauthorized access also increases. Financial institutions need effective measures to combat these threats to maintain high-quality services. Many current authentication methods rely on a single factor, like PINs or passwords, which are insufficient for protecting sensitive financial information and securing transactions. Furthermore, the impact of new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, the Internet of Things, and edge computing on security, especially authentication, is still not well understood. This study proposes a new multifactor authentication (MFA) framework tailored for mobile money transactions to improve security and minimize fraud. The proposed framework integrates multiple layers of authentication, including knowledge factors (e.g., PIN), possession factors (e.g., mobile device, OTP sent via SMS or email), and biometric factors (e.g., fingerprint). By leveraging these diverse factors, the framework ensures that access to mobile money services requires a higher level of assurance, making it significantly more difficult for unauthorized users to gain access. Additionally, the framework employs adaptive authentication mechanisms that dynamically adjust the required authentication factors based on the transaction’s risk level, user behavior, and environmental context. The results were obtained after analysis of the data. 30 (73.17%) of respondents suggest multifactor authentication. The other 7 (17.07%) indicate that two-factor authentication can still solve the challenge, especially if there is enough knowledge for the user. The rest 4 (9.76%) respond that policy is an important concern that, in some cases, allows for errors. This implies that multifactor authentication is the most recommended solution, although, on the other hand, user awareness should also be enhanced. Keywords: M-Payment; M-Transfer; Mobile Money Transaction; Mobile Money

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