Digital certification outfit VeriSign is to offer gateway access to MasterCard's Universal Cardholder Authentication Field (Ucaf) programme to its network of 75,000 online merchants.
The agreement is a boost for MasterCard's user authentication programme, which requires consumers to type in a PIN when shopping online to authorise transactions with participating merchants. VeriSign claims to process approximately 25 percent of all online transactions in the US via its payment services gateway.
"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," says Steve Orfei, a senior vice president at MasterCard International.
VeriSign merchants who register with the programme will benefit from upcoming MasterCard rule changes that shift liability for fraudulent transactions not authorised by the cardholder away from the online merchant and its acquirer when Ucaf has been utilised.
According to a recent study by Gartner, 18% of Web merchants surveyed say that a lack of customer authentication is their biggest concern with online payment systems.