Mastercard has announced the launch of its new solution to include the mobile phone into its Chip Authentication Program. Now customers will be allowed to authenticate their banking and online transactions through their own mobile phone.
MasterCard already includes tools that allow cardholders to authenticate themselves using their existing 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 (‘card not present’ transactions).
The latest mobile phone authentication initiative includes two types of solutions:
An SMS solution that is designed only for mobile phones. In this version, the one time password password is sent to the cardholder inside an SMS text. The cardholder is then able to use this password to authenticate their online purchase or mobile banking activity.
Another version was developed to support both Smartphones and JAVA compatible phones. The solution includes an application that runs on the mobile phone, and prompts the cardholder to key in a PIN. The phone then displays a password. The consumer experience in this version is very similar to authentication using a card reader.