Security
Security is fundamental to Visa Europe's
business. By keeping the payments system secure we protect
cardholders, retailers and businesses, and our members - plus we
drive business growth.
Fraud and business risk are constantly changing. This is why we
are constantly working to evolve Visa Europe’s security
infrastructure, to develop new security-led products and features,
and to reduce the impact of fraud when it happens.
We do this by working closely with our members, and retailers
and businesses, developing the tools and support to secure
transactions.
Visa Europe protects 445m debit, credit, commercial,
and prepaid cards.
Closing down fraud as it happens
Attacks on the payments system range from the very small - for
example, an individual retailer/business skimming cards at a shop,
right through to large-scale attempts to compromise data from a
retailer/business or processor’s systems.
Behind the scenes, Visa’s fraud professionals are working
constantly to identify patterns of fraud. Because we see fraud data
from all of our card issuers, we are better able to ‘join the dots’
and identify where a potential problem exists. If, for example, we
see reports of fraud on cards that have all been used in one
particular location, we can alert our members to this fact. It is
then over to the card issuers to act on this information.
Where substantial evidence exists, we support a process of
forensic analysis to identify and shut down the compromise.
The size of the task may be huge, but we are winning. The level
of fraud on Visa Europe’s cards in 2011 remained at less than 4
cents for every €100 spent.
Stopping the fraudster in real time
First launched in 2010, the Real Time Scoring service applies a
risk score to a transaction as part of the authorisation process.
Based on this score, the issuer can decide to approve or decline
the transaction, or to closely monitor subsequent transactions.
During 2011, more than 170 members have used the service to score
more than 800 million transactions.
Visa Europe Real Time Scoring uses neural network and predictive
technologies to identify suspicious transactions in real time. A
risk score is generated for each individual transaction as it
passes through the Visa payment system, reaching the card issuer in
milliseconds and helping them decide whether or not to accept a
transaction.
Supporting Europe’s fight against fraud
Visa Europe works closely with both law enforcement agencies and
the European Commission on ways to counteract card fraud. These
measures have significantly helped to raise awareness of the impact
of card crime and contributed to a reduction of fraud levels across
Europe.
The European Commission’s Fraud Prevention Action Plan (FPAP)
focuses on:
- The security of payment products and systems
- Co-operation between public authorities and the private
sector
- Integration of new member states in the EU fraud prevention
framework
- Closer ties with neighbouring countries to Europe who affect
the fraud situation.
We support the plan and are involved in the fraud prevention
expert group, the steering group, and various subgroups. These
groups play an important role in sharing information and best
practice to prevent fraud, especially at cross-border level.
Visa Europe has produced a guide to help law enforcement officers
recognise the signs of organised card crime. The guide has been
welcomed across Europe, and is already having an effect on card
crime detection and prosecution. For more information, view our
Helping to fight card crime
video.