Visa Europe Introduces Technology Innovation Program (TIP)
- Visa launches the Technology Innovation Program for PCI DSS compliance to reward acquirers and their face-to-face merchants’ for their investments in EMV technology and its use.
- Starting April 2011, for face-to-face merchants performing over 95% of their transactions using EMV ETPOS, Visa will:
- drop penalties for non-compliance and non-progression for acquirers whose merchants validated, and keep up with, steps 1 and 2 of the PCI DSS Prioritized Approach,
- will grant “immunity” regarding these penalties and attribution of fraud related losses and counterfeiting in case of data compromising for acquirers whose merchants validated, and keep up with, steps 1 to 4.
- Validating these six steps could allow face-to-face merchants to be protected in case of fraud and prevent the acquirers from being financially liable in case of counterfeiting. Merchants specialised in distant selling, even if partial (Internet, MOTO), cannot be part of this program we must then trust that strong authentication solution are properly deployed by the banks and that consumers are sufficiently informed.
- The four priority steps (avoid storage of sensitive data, protect network access points, secure applications, monitor and control access to the IS) provide for the reduction of the risks of fraud: in the 1980’s, most fraudsters were opportunistic individuals using lost or stolen cards, but, 30 years later, international criminal networks target banks or PSPs they infiltrate (using several kinds of techniques) to retrieve critical data, to be exploited quickly and generating significant cash-flow.
- With the notion of unbundling, Visa Europe sets up a financially encouraging program for the deployment of EMV by acquirers, passes on part of the profits made by fighting fraud and further stresses the liability of issuers to produce EMV cards.