Authentication: the right balance between payment convenience and security

The primary concern in authentication is striking the right balance between payment convenience and security. For Visa, this always has been and always will be the case, particularly now that the payment industry is engaged in a large-scale transition and fintech players are shaking up the market. Our basic principle is simple: offer – no different from current practice – maximum payment convenience where possible, and maximum security where necessary. This approach gives consumers payment options that are perfectly safe in all respects, and as convenient as the situation allows. It strikes the right balance.

New possibilities

The new possibilities in the areas of security and payment convenience demand flexible and agile attitudes towards transactions. The security level and authentication method to be applied must be considered for each situation individually. For this purpose, Visa advocates risk-based authentication involving a real-time risk analysis for each transaction individually.

Based on the transaction’s risk profile, additional authentication methods will then be applied if necessary. In concrete terms: anonymised data about the transaction amount, the device used and its IP address, the payment method, and the web shop will be compared with the transaction history of the cardholder concerned. If these data deviate from the cardholder’s normal purchasing behaviour, the transaction will be deemed ‘suspicious’, and additional verification will take place. For an in-depth explanation of this approach, watch the video below (in English).

Video: risk-based authentication as the basis of the European regulatory framework