Nov 16, 2009 05:00 ET
MasterCard Launches its Authentication Program for Mobile Devices
MasterCard extends range of supporting form factors for its chip
authentication program to include mobile phones
WATERLOO, Belgium --(Business Wire)-- Nov 16, 2009
MasterCard (NYSE:MA) has today launched an innovative solution to
harness the mobile phone as a form factor for its Chip Authentication
Program. The initiative focuses on enabling consumers to authenticate
their banking and online transactions through their own mobile phone
with solutions from three leading industry vendors.
MasterCard’s CAP program (Chip Authentication Program) focuses on
solutions that allow cardholders to authenticate themselves using their
existing EMV banking card and a personal card reader. The reader,
normally issued by a bank, generates a single-use password that can be
used for e-banking transactions, e-commerce, telephone authentication or
a whole host of other uses where the customer is not face-to-face with
the bank or merchant – transactions termed as ‘card not present’.
Today’s announcement focuses on the use of the mobile phone for the
generation of a dynamic password. Additionally the solution allows part
of the transaction to be included in the generation of a password – this
means that banks can enable cardholders to create a unique signature for
a transaction. Such developments represent considerable armor against
“phishing” and ‘man in the middle’ attacks – a growing problem in
e-banking and e-commerce.
Using the Mobile Phone to Authenticate and Protect
This new development leverages the ubiquitous nature of mobile phones.
According to latest research from Forrester1, the number of
individual mobile users in Europe will increase to 344 million users by
the end of 2014, representing 84% of the Western European population.
Coupled with growing online banking fraud activity (the UK Card
Association reports that online banking fraud has jumped 132% in 2008 to
stand at a record £52.5m.) the possibility to harness the mobile phone
for authentication purposes is considerable.
Currently well over half of all bank cards in circulation in Europe are
now driven by EMV, and with more than eight out of every terminal at
point-of-sale similarly EMV enabled, there is a very real opportunity to
build on this EMV experience uniting it with the technology and
convenience of mobile devices.
Today’s announcement offers two types of solutions:
-
The SMS-CAP solution works on any mobile phone. In this version, the
CAP password is sent to the cardholder inside an SMS (short message
service or ‘text’). The cardholder is then able to use this password
to authenticate their online purchase or mobile banking activity.
-
The second version runs on Smartphones or JAVA compatible phones. It
consists of an application that runs on the mobile phone, and prompts
the cardholder to key in a PIN. The phone then displays a CAP
password. The consumer experience in this version is very similar to
authentication using a card reader.
“The simplicity of this approach may be evident but the innovative
proposition and the suite of solutions that we have now in place with
our partners provides a sophisticated and unrivalled offering to our
bank customers” said Art Kranzley, chief emerging technology officer,
advanced technology, MasterCard Worldwide.
About MasterCard Europe and MasterCard Worldwide
For more information go to www.mastercard.com.
1 Source: Forrester Research European Mobile Forecast,
7/09 (Western Europe). There are some 334 million users currently in
Western Europe.
MasterCard
Corinne Raes, Tel. +32 (0)2 352 5237,
Corinne_raes@mastercard.com
or
Erica
Harvill, Tel. +1-914-249-6848,
Erica_harvill@mastercard.com