The company explained that MasterCard has developed a payment authentication technology enabling MasterCard(R) issuer banks to authenticate a cardholder prior to cardholder consummating a transaction over the Internet at participating merchants.

FreeStar Technology President and CEO Paul Egan said, "The certification adds an extra value added security feature to existing Rahaxi Processing Oy's portfolio of international standard card payments processing products and services, including the Internet Payment Gateway for the fast-growing, global e-commerce market."

"MasterCard SecureCode(R) is a payment initiative designed to reduce the risk of unauthorized use of a cardholder account by authenticating the cardholder attempting to make a purchase online. Authentications make Internet shopping safer for both buyers and sellers on the web by reducing the merchant's exposure to fraud and protecting the cardholders from fraudulent use of their credit card," added Angel Pacheco, chief technology officer of Freestar Technology.

Mr. Pacheco also added that Rahaxi Processing improves its offering by providing secure payment environments to POS merchants and to its growing e-commerce and m-commerce portfolios.