Tag: MasterCard

Bell ID has launched its new tokenization platform in order to support mobile commerce security

Bell ID, a payment credential management organization, has launched new software that could introduce more security to the mobile payments space. Security has been a problem in the mobile world for several years now. While there are many effective security solutions currently available in the mobile world, relatively few of these have been able to offer consumers interested in mobile commerce with the protection they need. Tokenization may be the solution to this problem.

Digital tokens remove the need for financial information

Tokenization is a relatively simple concept that involves replacing personal financial information with digital “tokens.” These tokens are used to authenticate a transaction and then are deleted after they have served their purpose. This removes the need for retailers and other businesses to access or store a consumer’s financial information, allowing for more secure in the mobile payments sector. Bell ID’s new Tokenization Manager software may help boost the popularity of tokenization.

Tokenization Manager to help businesses use digital tokens as a way to verify transactions

The company’s Tokenization Manager has already seen significant use by various NFC-based mobile payment solutions. The solutions use digital tokens as a replacement for credit and debit cards, as well as other financial information. Many organizations believe that digital tokens will mitigate the prevalence of large-scale cyber attacks, such as those recently targeting Target and Home Depot. These attacks seek to gather and exploit financial information, but malicious groups will not be able to use tokens in any way.

As mobile payments become more secure, consumers and businesses will become more likely to participate

Tokenization is becoming so popular that companies like Visa and MasterCard have begun to support the concept. Tokens could finally bring a high degree of security to mobile commerce, which has suffered over the years due to lackluster security support. As mobile commerce becomes more secure, a greater number of people and businesses are likely to enter the sector. Several companies have delayed their mobile plans due to security issues within the mobile space.

When a credit card transaction is denied outside of its owner’s home country, up to 80 percent are false positives.

Mastercard is now using geolocation technology in order to help to reduce the frequency of “false positives” that are occurring when one of their customers has attempted to use his or her card in a legitimate way, but has had the transaction denied as it registers as potentially fraudulent.

This is an opt-in service that allows a customer to be matched with his or her location to validate a transaction.

This service uses the geolocation technology in a customer’s smartphone so that when they leave their home country and attempt to use their credit card, their location can be confirmed as being the same as that of the transaction, so that the purchase will not be flagged as a potentially risky one and a false positive can be avoided. For this program, MasterCard is working with Syniverse, an IPX provider, which has access to over six billion individual mobile subscribers who are located in over two hundred different countries.

The goal of this use of geolocation technology is to use mobile security methods to boost transaction authentication.

According to the CMO of Syniverse, Mary Patterson Clark, “We’re providing an additional layer of fraud protection for when a consumer is on the road.” She added that “Over and above the existing fraud protection, [MasterCard is] offering this additional opt-in fraud protection offer to their customers.”

What Clark described was a system in which the MasterCard certificate generates a token and then sends it to the platform that has been enabled by that credit card giant and Syniverse. With this, Syniverse is able to compare the location of the MasterCard and the location of the user at his or her last registration update. If those two positions are nearby, then the transaction will not be flagged as potentially fraudulent.

The company is not only hoping to continue with the reduction in false positive identifications of fraud that it has already been achieving through this geolocation technology, but it will also use it to help to make it easier for travelers to purchase prepaid data packages while they are away from home.