VISA 3D Secure service, mostly known as Verified by VISA, provides PIN protection when using your VISA credit card on the Internet by preventing unauthorized use. This article reviews the VISA 3D Secure (Verified by VISA) service.

What Is VISA 3D Secure?

This XML-based protocol, developed by VISA, is designed to make Internet payments more secure and less open to fraud., whether they are transacted with a credit or a debit card. The protocol has been licensed to other payment brands, so you may see it with other credit card brands. For example MasterCard SecureCode is MasterCard's name for the protocol. In addition, it has been chosen by the community of vendors as the standard for global, interoperable authenticated payment.

How VISA 3D Secure Works

The VISA 3D Secure process begins with enrollment by the cardholder, which includes the collection of identification information (such as card number and expiration date), a password and/or a personal assurance message. When the issuer of the credit card has verified the responses, the cardholder is enrolled, and the verifcation information is stored on the Access Control Server.

After this has taken place, any time the cardholder conducts a transaction at a participating merchant and a VISA 3D Secure request is generated by the Verified by VISA Merchant Server Plug-in that VISA supplies, the cardholder will submit the verifying information supplied by the cardholder and the enrollment information stored on the Access Control Server will be used to make a match and verify the cardholder's identity or—if there is not a match—reject the entry as invalid and decline the payment.

Benefits of VISA 3D Secure

Here are some positive elements that may result from using VISA 3D Secure:

• Reduction of fraud and disputed charges, or credit card chargebacks.
• Increased confidence encouraging more people to use credit cards online.
• The ability to take payments from VISA Smart Debit/Credit Cards.
• Ease of use for the cardholder.

Issues with VISA 3D Secure

Here are some elements that may make people less than satisfied with VISA 3D Secure:

• Cardholders with VISA Smart Debit/Credit cards require a chip card reader and software for the reader.
• Merchants have to purchase and integrate the Verified by VISA Merchant Server Plug-in with their existing server in order to contact the Access Control Servers and authenticate the cardholder. Use of the plug-in includes a setup fee, monthly fee, and fee for each transaction.
• In completing the security transaction, the cardholder may see a browser window with an address that represents the implementation of the plug-in and is neither the merchant's web address nor VISA's. This may concern the cardholder and may make phishing attacks easier to implement, as the cardholder loses the ability to verify the URL by sight.
• It is unclear how the cardholder can obtain support should a problem occur during the verification process.
• Different implementations by different merchants and plug-in creators can make the cardholder's experience different in different situations.

Sources

partnernetwork.visa.com

Related Article: Credit Card Fraud Screening >>