The term tokenization is sounding more and more frequently within the payment and parking world. Tokenization can be applied in different ways. For example, there is a difference between Payment Tokens and Security Tokens.
Payment Tokens are used to make payments. Apple Pay is an example of a payment method that uses Payment Tokens.
Whereas Payment Tokens are used to make payments, Security Tokens have an entirely different application. An example is parking in a parking garage. Here, when entering the garage, the bank card is scanned (Dip&Go or Tap&Go) and the card number is converted to a Security Token. When exiting, the same card is scanned again and parking time can be determined and paid for on the basis of Security Token. This eliminates the need to take a ticket.
When converting a card number to a Security Token, hashing, encryption and secret keys are used. Every time the same card number X is presented, it results in the same Security Token Y. However, it is not possible to conjure the Security Token Y back to the card number X. Thus, the calculation from card number to Security Token is a one-way street.