Fighting Fraud Behind the Scenes

If there ever was a perfect system that could provide the ideal interaction between consumers and merchants or banks, it starts with how the consumer feels during the transaction process. But it’s actually what happens behind the scenes that ensures the experience is not compromised and more approvals are made.

And in the end, that’s essentially what keeps both merchants and customers happy, a top executive from CA Technologies tells Market Platform Dynamics CEO Karen Webster.

(Jump To: 0:56) “Consumer experience is paramount,” Ram Varadarajan, the company’s general manager of new business innovation, said in the podcast interview. “It’s paramount to retailers while you shop in their stores. It’s paramount when you’re at a website. It’s paramount at banks when you go to the ATM or to a teller. So I think the design of a perfect system has to take into account the convenience, or lack thereof, in any solution.”

That’s no easy task, and analytics plays a key role in ensuring it’s done right. Consumers are used to a high degree of convenience because of their Web and mobile experiences. So the smart thing is to keep user experience simple but provide enough security so businesses don’t lose money – the bank or the merchants, Varadarajan said.

Back-End Authentication

The more a bank or retailer can know about the consumer the better. But checking their credentials at the teller line or point of sale through passports, driver’s licenses or other forms of identification is “too complicated and slow,” Varadarajan said. So instead what merchants should do is let the transaction happen and do the investigative work on the back end, such as checking to make sure the purchase is consistent with the type the customer has done previously, he said.

In card-not-present situations, the current authorization system can determine whether enough funds are in an account at any given time, but ensuring the card user is authentic is a bit trickier, Varadarajan said. That’s where 3D Secure systems, such as MasterCard SecureCode and Verified by Visa, come into play.

3D Secure Protections

3D Secure essentially builds a new railroad, so to speak, Varadarajan said. The transaction of an enrolled customer flows through the network and issuer for additional password verification even before the funds availability is verified.

CA Technologies helps organizations and financial institutions to protect their assets from compromise using back-end multifactor authentication systems, risk-management systems, limits on system access based need to know, and other methods, Varadarajan said.

(Jump To: 10:01) “So there’s a whole slew of well-defined and well-understood practices that can be used based upon technologies and solutions that CA provides to help financial institutions secure their back-end pieces,” he said.

You can learn more about CA Technologies at The Innovation Project 2014, March 19-20. Get on the list.

To listen to the podcast click here.