What is Verified by Visa?
Most of us, at some point or another, have used a service or
acquired a product over the internet which required a payment. Invariable we
have reached out for our wallets or purses, took out a credit card and effected
the payment. It easy and its fast but its not done without some trepidation –
what is the card number is stolen?
The impact the internet has on our lives needs no
introduction; all this activity on the internet also requires that payments
flow securely across it to pay for products or services and the credit card has
emerged as the most natural way to make these payments; how else can payments
be made in real time, across different time zones, different languages,
language barriers and on a global level.
The same internet however has created problems for credit
card use because it’s easy for someone to use the anonymity of the internet to
use a stolen card number. The card industry responded at first by protecting
the interest of the card holder – the card holder had the right to dispute a
payment made online and have the money refunded – a process commonly called a
chargeback in the industry.
This off course has not augured well for businesses
accepting payments online as they were left carrying the burden of online
credit card fraud. Clearly a solution was desperately needed, a solution based
not on regulations but on technology to eliminate the problem at the source and
make online payments safe for card holders and the online businesses alike.
The solution has been a number of years in the making and is
called 3DSecure; it encompasses schemes operated by the major card brands. Visa
calls its scheme ‘Verified by Visa’, while MasterCard calls its scheme ‘Secure
Code’. 3DSecure works by allowing a card holder to identify himself directly to
his own bank; it harnesses the internet to allow real time collaboration
between the bank that issues the card, the bank that collects payments for an
online business and the card holder himself; A payment gateway is involved that
orchestrates this collaboration seamless and transparently.
For a business accepting payments online, 3DSecure is a
dream come true. Payments are accepted online without the risk of chargeback.
Businesses can grow their online operations without costly verifications and
losses to fraud.
For a card holder, if his card is still not participating in
3DSecure he will not notice any difference when he makes a payment, even if the
online business is participating. Should his card be enrolled, however, after
he submits his credit card number and general details he will find himself
automatically redirected to a web page operated by his bank. Here he will see a
personalized message registered on enrollment as a security measure to assure
him he arrived at his bank’s website. He will then identify himself through a
password and on completion will be redirected back to the original website to
finish off the payment process. The whole process is completed in less than 30
seconds. The card holder needs not worry about having his card number stolen –
without his password the payment would be rejected and the password is shared
only with his own bank and no one else.
The Endeavour Payment Gateway has been offering the Verified
by Visa part of 3DSecure for quite sometime and has made several contributions
to the industry in making this new technology both reliable and easy to use for
its merchants and card holders alike.
Apart from technology, the card industry has also rolled out
a program to certify the payment solution providers (PSP). This is because many
of the companies offering this service should quite simply not have been
entrusted with such an important job; making a secure credit card payment on
the internet goes far beyond just seeing the padlock graphic in a browser.
Incredible as it sounds, what happens once the transaction arrives at the PSP
can be straight out of a Monty Python sketch. This tough certification process,
therefore, is designed to allow only qualified companies to offer these services.
Endeavour has achieved this certification for a number of years already and is
still the only company in
In a world full of insecurities, some things just got safer.