Case study
securePay™ Helps Stamp out Card Fraud
A development partnership between Sagentia and Telsecure has led to securePay™, an easy to use, mobile phone based payment authentication system with the potential to cut credit card fraud.
The result of a development partnership between Sagentia and Telsecure, securePay™ is an easy to use, mobile phone based payment authentication system with the potential to substantially reduce credit and debit card fraud.
Although chip & PIN may have made ‘card present’ transactions safer, ‘card not present’ – such as telephone, mail order and internet payments – remain a major target of fraud in the UK.
securePay™ takes a totally new approach to securing card transactions by using the cardholder’s mobile phone as part of the authentication process. Although the system is designed to work specifically with ‘card not present’ transactions, it works just as well with ‘card present’ transactions, and links a user’s card number with their mobile phone. When a card or card number is presented for payment, the user receives a WAP message on their mobile phone requesting authorisation of the transaction by entering a four digit PIN. As a result, transaction security is greatly increased and involves the customer directly in the authorisation (in the same manner as chip & PIN), even if the transaction is performed remotely. Simplicity, ease of integration and operability are the system’s strengths.
We developed securePay™ by working with Telsecure and with independent experts from the banking sector. As a result, the system is designed to adapt easily to any existing payment infrastructures and mobile network, or EPoS system. We also helped Telsecure confirm the validity of the approach, identifying the appropriate technology framework for the process, and clarifying ways in which IP could be protected to support the future development of securePay™.
On its launch the securePay™ system attracted significant interest from banks, card companies, mobile network operators, investors, and financiers. In 2005, Telsecure signed a distribution deal with Ingenico, the world’s leading supplier of secure transaction technologies; Ingenico already works with all major UK banks, which will enable a fast rollout of the new authentication system.
Speaking of the development process, Rashid Qajar, Telsecure MD, commented: ‘We see the relationship with Sagentia as very much a long term partnership. Telsecure’s eCommerce operations and commercial vision, combined with Sagentia’s knowledge of telecoms and IT industries, and a well defined working model, look set to reap substantial rewards’.