Informations about UCAF MasterCard
VeriSign's Support Builds Momentum for MasterCard
UCAF
Purchase, NY and Mountain View, CA, September 4, 2002 - MasterCard
International and VeriSign, Inc., (Nasdaq: VRSN) the leading provider
of digital trust services, today announced they are joining forces to
increase online transaction security for merchants accepting a MasterCard
payment transaction. The joint effort is part of MasterCard's overall
e-commerce strategy to increase the security of online payment transactions
and part of VeriSign's Trusted Commerce program, which aims to increase
overall online security.
Under the agreement between the companies, VeriSign
plans to implement and offer access to MasterCard's Universal Cardholder
Authentication Field (UCAF™) program to up to 75,000 merchants, to further
secure transactions for merchants who choose to take advantage of UCAF.
VeriSign processes approximately 25 percent of all online transactions
in the U.S., according to VeriSign and industry reports. UCAF is a data
transport mechanism created by MasterCard that provides explicit evidence
that a cardholder originated a transaction. Merchants who use UCAF can
be confident that their transactions will be secured, thereby minimizing
their liability to MasterCard for fraud. Working with VeriSign, the
largest payment gateway, MasterCard expects a great increase in the
merchant adoption of UCAF.
"Equipping VeriSign's extensive online merchant
base with the UCAF infrastructure will be a major step forward in building
MasterCard's global momentum for guaranteed payments," said Steve
W. Orfei, senior vice president, e-Commerce and eB2B Center of Excellence,
MasterCard International. "By working with powerful technology
alliance partners such as VeriSign, MasterCard is empowering merchants
with the tools to maximize their own profitability, while providing
consumers with greater security."
Payment card companies have a long-standing policy
of "zero liability" for consumers who report fraud incidents
in a timely manner. However, merchants are often left paying charge-back
fees. VeriSign merchants will benefit from upcoming MasterCard rule
changes that shift liability for fraudulent transactions not authorized
by the cardholder away from the online merchant and its acquirer when
UCAF has been utilized. Historically, if an online merchant shipped
goods for a transaction that turned out to be fraudulent due to the
cardholder claiming he or she did not authorize the transaction, the
merchant ultimately bore the costs. Now, online merchants will benefit
from a payment guarantee that is equivalent to a signed sales receipt
in the physical world when participating issuers authenticate their
cardholders and authorize the transaction.
According to a recent study by Gartner, Inc., 18
percent of Web merchants surveyed say that a lack of customer authentication
is their biggest concern with online payment systems.
"Lowering charge-back and fraud risks for merchants
using the VeriSign payment gateway helps everyone win -- our merchants,
their customers and the financial institutions," said Barry McCarthy,
vice president and general manager of VeriSign Payment Services. "By
providing MasterCard's UCAF functionality to merchants using VeriSign,
consumers and the merchant can transact online with more confidence.
We've got the tools and we're arming merchants and consumers against
those who would steal payment cards and perpetrate fraud."
The VeriSign Payment Services (VPS) gateway provides
the virtual equivalent of a card swipe terminal. VeriSign offers a highly
reliable, secure, and cost effective means for merchants of any size
to accept most forms of payment online. Supporting a leading initiative
like MasterCard's UCAF, further enhances VeriSign's efforts to secure
online transactions. In addition, both MasterCard and VeriSign promote
industry standards, security enhancements, and best practices for merchants
and consumers.
How UCAF Authenticates
Merchants who use UCAF will know that a customer paying with his or
her MasterCard card has expressed authorization to use that card. UCAF
offers a universal and interoperable method of collecting cardholder
authentication data at a merchant's virtual point-of-sale. UCAF then
transports authentication data to all parties involved in an online
transaction.
MasterCard's UCAF supports a broad spectrum of issuer
security solutions, providing issuers with the flexibility to choose
how to best authenticate their cardholders. Whether an issuer has deployed
MasterCard's PC-based authentication program, Chip Authentication Program,
or another authentication scheme, MasterCard's UCAF infrastructure allows
the data to be transported between participating merchants, acquirers
and issuers through a series of hidden fields.
About MasterCard International
MasterCard International is a leader in global e-business. The association
is focused on providing its member financial institutions with customized,
meaningful global e-business solutions that connect them to their accountholders.
Through its investment in industry innovation, participation in standards
development and business alliances, MasterCard is staying in the forefront
of technology integration to enable anytime, anywhere payments across
multiple channels and various devices. MasterCard's global e-business
solutions include Internet security, smart cards, mobile commerce/wireless,
business to business electronic commerce, and numerous emerging technologies.
MasterCard International has a comprehensive portfolio
of well-known, widely accepted payment brands including MasterCard®,
Cirrus® and Maestro®. More than 1.7 billion MasterCard, Cirrus and Maestro
logos are present on credit, charge and debit cards in circulation today.
A corporation with more than 15,000 member financial institutions, MasterCard
serves consumers and businesses, both large and small, in 210 countries
and territories. MasterCard is a leader in quality and innovation, offering
a wide range of payment solutions in the virtual and traditional worlds.
MasterCard's award-winning Priceless® advertising campaign is now seen in 90 countries
and in 45 languages, giving the MasterCard brand a truly global reach
and scope. With more than 28 million acceptance locations, no payment
card is more widely accepted globally than MasterCard. For the six months
ended June 30, 2002, gross dollar volume exceeded US$534 billion. MasterCard
can be reached through its website at http://www.mastercardinternational.com
About VeriSign
VeriSign, Inc. is the leading provider of digital trust services that
enable everyone, everywhere to engage in commerce and communications
with confidence. VeriSign's digital trust services create a trusted
environment through four core offerings-Web presence services, security
services, payment services, and telecommunications services-powered
by a global infrastructure that manages more than seven billion network
connections and transactions a day.
VeriSign Payment Services offers a payment solution
for every merchant under the PayFlow Pro and PayFlo Link brands. Additional
news and information about PayFlow products and other company information
is available at www.verisign.com
Statements in this announcement other than
historical data and information, including but not limited to, statements
regarding benefits of VeriSign's restructuring and new service offerings,
constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section
27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934. These statements involve risks and uncertainties
that could cause VeriSign's actual results to differ materially from
those stated or implied by such forward-looking statements. The potential
risks and uncertainties include, among others, VeriSign's limited operating
history under its current business structure, the risk that businesses
of previously-acquired companies as well as other businesses will not
be integrated successfully and unanticipated costs of such integration;
uncertainty of future revenue and profitability and potential fluctuations
in quarterly operating results; the ability of VeriSign to successfully
develop and market new services and customer acceptance of any new services;
the risk that VeriSign's announced strategic relationships may not result
in additional products, services, customers and revenues; increased
competition and pricing pressures; risk that the company may not be
able to achieve anticipated cost savings from the restructuring; and
risks related to potential security breaches. More information about
potential factors that could affect the company's business and financial
results is included in VeriSign's filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, including in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for
the year ended December 31, 2001 and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.
VeriSign undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking
statements after the date of this press release.
Contacts:
Christina Costa, MasterCard International, Christina_costa@mastercard.com, 914-249-4606
Janine Dunne, VeriSign, jdunne@verisign.com, 703-948-4496
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