128 IntJ Mobile communications. Vol 4 No. 2. 2006 An onion ring framework for developing and assessing mobile commerce security June Wei Management Information Systems College of Business, University of West Florida Pensacola. Florida 32514 USA E-mail: wei@uwf. edu Corresponding author Lai C Liu and Kai s Koong Department of Computer In Quantitative Methods College of Business administration The University of Texas-Pan American Edinburg, Texas 78541, USA E-mail: liul @ utpa. edu E-mail: koongk utpa edu Abstract: A five-layer 'onion ring framework for analysing mobile commerce curity requirements and for improving system security performance is resented in this research. Two quantifiable approaches, based on weighted scores applied to either a spider diagram or a decision solution matrix, are used to demonstrate how the security level can actually be objectively measured and evaluated in addition to the technical discussions on the framework's architecture eywords: mobile commerce security; evaluation matrix: spider and relative weighted methods. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Wei, J, Liu, L C. and oon loping and assessing Biographical notes: June Wei is Assistant Professor in the Department of Management and Management Information Systems at the University of West Florida. She has published extensively and is an Editorial Board Member of the Interdisciplinary Journal of Knowledge and Learning Objects, Journal formation Privacy and Security, Interdisciplinary Journal of Information Knowledge and Management, and International Journal of Mobile learning Lai C. Liu is Associate Professor of Computer Information Systems and Quantitative Methods at the University of Texas Pan American and is also a Fellow of the Computing and Information Technology Center. She has published extensively and is an Editorial Board Member of E-Govermment and Interdisciplinary Journal of Knowledge and Learning Objects. opyright o 2006 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd128 Int. J. Mobile Communications, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2006 Copyright © 2006 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. An onion ring framework for developing and assessing mobile commerce security June Wei* Department of Management and Management Information Systems College of Business, University of West Florida Pensacola, Florida 32514, USA E-mail: jwei@uwf.edu *Corresponding author Lai C. Liu and Kai S. Koong Department of Computer Information Systems and Quantitative Methods College of Business Administration The University of Texas-Pan American Edinburg, Texas 78541, USA E-mail: liul@utpa.edu E-mail: koongk@utpa.edu Abstract: A five-layer ‘onion ring’ framework for analysing mobile commerce security requirements and for improving system security performance is presented in this research. Two quantifiable approaches, based on weighted scores applied to either a spider diagram or a decision solution matrix, are used to demonstrate how the security level can actually be objectively measured and evaluated in addition to the technical discussions on the framework’s architecture. Keywords: mobile commerce security; evaluation matrix; spider and relative weighted methods. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Wei, J., Liu, L.C. and Koong, K.S. (2006) ‘An onion ring framework for developing and assessing mobile commerce security’, Int. J. Mobile Communications, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp.128–142. Biographical notes: June Wei is Assistant Professor in the Department of Management and Management Information Systems at the University of West Florida. She has published extensively and is an Editorial Board Member of the Interdisciplinary Journal of Knowledge and Learning Objects, Journal of Information Privacy and Security, Interdisciplinary Journal of Information, Knowledge and Management, and International Journal of Mobile Learning and Organization. Lai C. Liu is Associate Professor of Computer Information Systems and Quantitative Methods at the University of Texas Pan American and is also a Fellow of the Computing and Information Technology Center. She has published extensively and is an Editorial Board Member of E-Government and Interdisciplinary Journal of Knowledge and Learning Objects