Why 3-D Secure is Primed for Ignition

When 3-D Secure was first introduced in 2001, it was heralded as the perfect solution for online fraud. There was only one problem – consumers hated using it. More than a decade later, CA Technology, its originator, has evolved the solution to include state-of-the-art behavior-based authentication models that do all of the important authentication work in the background, including those pegged to the devices that consumers now use to shop online. Find out why now 3-D Secure is one of today’s most important security tools.

It’s not exactly breaking news that cardholder security is front and center of the payments ecosystem “to do” list. And, with that, the search for a solution that keeps cardholder data secure without compromising the consumer experience at checkout. Nowhere is this more important than online, where the incidences of fraud are increasing, and it becomes harder to authenticate the user.

One such solution, 3-D Secure, was launched in 2001 to help online merchants reduce the incidences of fraud online. But, it’s also fair to say that 3-D Secure didn’t exactly meet expectations given the rather onerous registration process that consumers had to endure after the checkout had happened. As a result, this very robust and effective solution never really ignited as once envisioned.

That is all changing now as behavior-based authentication models leverage the 3-D Secure platform to do all of the important authentication work in the background, eliminating the onerous process once characteristic of this solution and positioning 3-D Secure as a robust tool in reducing fraud in an omnichannel world.

CA Technologies, co-creator of the 3-D Secure protocol has been at the forefront of this work and outlines its innovation in in a newly published whitepaper that explains how using advanced models reduces fraud and improves the cardholder experience.

In short, CA Technologies uses behavior-based authentication models to examine the usual patterns of the cardholder, merchant and mobile device used to pay to authenticate the user (PC, mobile/tablet), which is critical given the seamless ways in which users move from device to device. These models are “smart” enough to reduce the need for secondary authentication.

CA Technologies Risk Analytics Regional Models are the brains behind this solution and are enriched using data from regional issuers. The secret sauce, though, is the data that is gathered from the devices the consumers use most typically when conducting transactions online.

These models use variables (a sort of mini-model) to isolate these behavior patterns. The variables may simply identify if the device being used is new, or the velocity of spending on that device or card is unusual.

The benefits can be enormous and the ROI compelling as a chart taken from this whitepaper points out. But, perhaps the best outcome of all is the reduction in the friction associated with the online shopping experience, and the number of declined transactions based on the new behavior of a consumer that is moving between devices more quickly than ever before.

To understand the benefits and ROI associated with the use of behavior-based authentication models with a 3-D Secure solution, download the free CA Technologies white paper here.