Shopping online for various items, whether it be the weekly shop, buying books, holidays or just ordering up Sky TV in time for Christmas is becoming a fairly regular day-to-day practice. At the heart of this is the payments using credit cards, but it is a common concern with sharing such personal details regularly that is always a worry.

The credit card is one of those few technologies that hasn’t really developed or evolved much over the years. Sure, we now have Chip and PIN, smart chips on most, and one or two other features, but not much else has changed.

How the new Visa credit cards may look in the not too distant future

On the back of all credit or debit cards is magic three digit number that is called the ‘proof of ownership’ or CV2 number. This number is vital in the processing of the transaction as it not only validates that you have entered details on the front of the card correctly, but is also meant to show the merchant and bank involved that you are in the presence of the card. Sadly, this isn’t always the case when fraudsters are at work. Good news though, Visa thinks like us about this issue too.

To the right is an image of what could be the very future or next generation of credit cards. On the back of the card is a 12 digit keypad and a display (very much like a calculator). The system is relatively simple: Key in your PIN for an online transaction and the card will generate a one-time security code.

Visa’s developed the system to be dead easy for card users, in fact here is their instructions for use:

“1. When shopping online or logging in to an online banking service, the consumer activates the authentication process by pressing the appropriate option button on the card’s keypad
2. When prompted the consumer inputs their standard PIN into the keypad embedded in the card
3. A unique one-time-only code appears on the card’s display panel, which is then used by the consumer to authenticate the transaction“

According to Visa, four banks in Europe are already starting a pilot scheme in the next few months (MBNA, Cal in Israel , IW Bank – Italy, Cornèr Bank – Switzerland, and some (unnamed) Bank of America company working in the UK).

Further to this Visa have said: “Thanks to this technology, cardholders will be protected by a secure solution that authenticates online transactions when ordering over the telephone or via the internet. Moreover, they will benefit from a simple and straightforward process because there will be no need to register, or to use any separate device or, more importantly, to remember any passwords.”

An example of a number generated when you have entered your PIN.

Not to worry though for those who are afraid of the technology already, the front of the card looks the same as any other credit card, and is the same size too, in both height and weight. It is also meant to be just as durable. Much more importantly though, the battery is designed to last a full three years of daily use.

Lastly, the card can also be used to help validate your bank, should they try and call you.

It will probably be a good few years before we all start using the technology.

Now who thinks this isn’t a good idea? No one?

…just as I suspected.

Link: Visa press release

Tags: Battery, Future, Internet, News, Phone, Security, Sky, sky tv, TV