Visa's online security sets WorldPay in motion

Ha! Let's see how the fraudster scoundrels deal with this one...

Online payment provider WorldPay has become the first company to use Visa International's Visa 3-D Secure technology on a global scale.

Visa 3-D Secure is designed to reduce the risk of unauthorized card usage and make internet shopping more secure for buyers and sellers.

The technology is based on Arcot Systems' software, which is a virtual smart card that is scalable to many users.

Elis Nemes, president at Arcot told silicon.com: "3-D is going to be the global standard."

The software works by concealing a PKI private key among thousands of similar, credible, yet incorrect keys.

If anyone tries to break the encryption cipher, they are presented with nonsensical keys that are obviously incorrect, and many thousands of keys that appear to be correct. This increases the time for the hacker to break the code, and the hacker is locked out after three attempts.

"We don't develop new applications, we just make the present ones work the way they should be working," said Nemes.

The service will be available initially to Visa cardholders online, but, according to Lynne Gillon, VP of marketing at Arcot, the company is in discussions with Master Card to make the payment offering available to its cardholders.