3-D Secure

3-D Secure is a technique that was developed to offer an extra degree of protection to online transactions using credit cards and debit cards. The name is a reference to the "three domains" that communicate with one another via the use of the protocol.

Originally created in the fall of 1999 by Celo Communications AB (later Gemplus, Gemalto, and now Thales Group) for Visa Inc. in a project entitled "p42" ("p" from Pole vault since the project was a significant challenge and "42" as the solution from the novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy). In the years 2000 and 2001, Gemplus worked on developing a new and improved version.

The Verified by Visa brand was introduced to consumers in 2001 by Arcot Systems, which is now known as CA Technologies. This was done with the purpose of enhancing the safety of financial transactions conducted over the internet (later rebranded as Visa Secure). Mastercard, Discover, JCB International, and American Express have all implemented their own versions of the protocol-based service, which they call SecureCode for Mastercard, ProtectBuy for Discover, J/Secure for JCB International, and American Express SafeKey for American Express. EMV 3-D Secure is the term given by EMVCo to subsequent iterations of the protocol that have been released. The second version of the protocol was released in 2016, with the intention of both conforming to the updated authentication criteria of the EU and addressing some of the deficiencies that were present in the first version of the protocol.

The first version of the protocol was analysed by academics, and their findings revealed that it had a number of security flaws that had the potential to affect customers. These flaws included a greater surface area for phishing, as well as a shift in liability in the event that fraudulent payments were made.