A system and method secure transactional data communicated over a wireless
network in a store by obfuscating bona fide transactional messages in the
message traffic flow. The system includes a load balancer coupled to a
store host computer and a plurality of transactional terminals coupled to
the store host computer through a wireless communication network. The
load balancer monitors message traffic queues and message processing at
the store host computer to determine possible dead time in the bandwidth
of the wireless communication network. If the dead time is greater than a
threshold, a bogus request message is generated and sent to one or more
terminals in the system. In response to receipt of a bogus request
message, a terminal activates a bogus message generator. The bogus
message generator generates transactional messages with bogus customer,
account, and transactional data therein. The generated messages are
transmitted to the store host computer until a bogus message timer
expires or a bona fide transaction commences at the terminal where the
bogus message generator has been activated. To further frustrate would be
eavesdroppers, the bogus and bona fide transactional messages are
encrypted to increase processing time for the messages by eavesdroppers.
The increased message traffic volume camouflages the true communication
parameters of the network and makes analysis of the traffic flow by
eavesdroppers more difficult.