VISA and MasterCard have announced their plans to replace their much loathed online verification systems, Verified by VISA and MasterCard Security Code, replacing them with simpler, easier to use methods, The Guardian reports. The new systems will reduce the reliance on passwords as a means of identifying the payer, and will eventually allow the verification of shoppers by their fingerprints or a wristband.
The systems used by the two major payment processors to improve the security of online shoppers, that required the introduction of an extra password during the checkout process, have been considered a nuisance by the users. Besides, they were too open to exploitation. Retailers were encouraged to adopt these systems because it had the potential to reduce the number of chargebacks – amounts returned to the customers due to fraudulent card transactions. The users found this system to be hard to use, as they had trouble remembering their often too complex passwords, and it was hard for them to tell if the pop-up asking for it was a fraudulent one of a real one. Thus, the processors have decided to develop a new authentication system.
The new system aims to reduce the reliance on passwords to identify the shopper. Initially the system will send a code to the shoppers’ mobile devices, that will have to be typed in, but later shoppers might be required to use one-time passwords or their fingerprints, or even a wristband identifying the cards’ owners through their unique cardiac rhythm. Ajay Bhalla, MasterCard’s president of enterprise security solutions, says that they want to get rid of one extra password to remember, that which creates problems for the consumers and businesses alike. “We want to identify people for who they are, not what they remember”, he said, considering that the ultimate goal is to create a payment system that is both safe and simple, not one or another.