What is 3D Secure?

3D Secure or 3DS is the umbrella name for each of the Card Schemes’ branded online payment authentication solutions: Verified by Visa, Mastercard SecureCode, American Express Safekey, J/Secure for JCB and ProtectBuy for Discover and Diners International.

3DS is an authentication protocol that aims to reduce fraud, increase customer security and reduce merchant liability to chargebacks. It introduced a step in the transaction process where the customer sees a screen hosted by or on behalf of their card issuer. On this screen, the customer is prompted to authenticate himself or herself, often via a password or similar information only known to the customer.

How is 3DS v2 Different?

The original version of 3DS was designed for a ‘browser only’ ecommerce checkout experience, and failed to consider the experience delivered via mobile browser and in-app payments that make up a significant proportion of ecommerce traffic today.

3DS v2 designed with the mobile checkout experience in mind by introducing new checkout flows that are better suited to customers paying on a mobile with new authentication methods, such as biometrics. It also provides the possibility of a fully frictionless flow by using a more comprehensive data set provided by the merchant to authenticate the customer without the need for their intervention.

Benefits of 3DS v2

The new regulation aims to deliver safer and more secure payments for consumers but there are many benefits for merchants also:

• Increased fraud protection with a solution better fitted to modern ecommerce
• Liability shift from merchants to card issuers on transactions where a customer is successfully authenticated, meaning that the card issuer, rather than the merchant, is liable in the case of fraud.
• Better user experience over the current 3DS protocol with a greater range of authentication methods including a completely frictionless flow.
• Increased payment approvals from the card issuers.