Visa to police security of its online traders

Visa is planning to announce 10 new rules to boost the security of online transactions carried out every day by its 21,000 members.

The credit card company said the measures are designed to combat the growing threat of internet credit card fraud, which is three times bigger online than offline. The rules will insist that ebusinesses install a satisfactory firewall system to protect data.

Visa will police members itself by monitoring compliance and testing firewalls, and expects the rules to be respected by all merchants accepting its cards.

Ebusinesses will also be forced to change the vendor defaults for system passwords, and must assign unique accounts to each user with access to the information. Security procedures will also include regular testing of security systems, encryption of all online and offline data and regular antivirus updates.

John Shaughnessy, senior vice president for risk management at Visa, said: "If you're a merchant, this is stuff you want to do. It's just good business. It's as simple as that."

He added that self-regulation is an important driver, making it unnecessary for governments to get involved. "We want to do it this way," he said.

The new procedures will be enforced by a system of fines or a restriction on the amount of sales that merchants can process. In extreme cases, failure to comply can lead to a termination of membership.

Last year, more than two per cent of Visa's total $724bn worth of transactions were for online purchases. The company expects this to rocket to 10 per cent by 2003, and hopes to minimise fraud levels before it is too late.

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