Abstract

This chapter discusses the SET (Secure Electronic Transaction) protocol designed to secure bankcard transactions executed over open networks such as the Internet. This protocol was sponsored jointly by Visa and MasterCard in collaboration with the main players in the informatics world, such as IBM, GTE, Microsoft, SAIC (Science Applications International Corporation), Terisa Systems, and VeriSign (SET Specification, 1997). The common objective was to encourage the use of credit cards for online payments and to avoid market fragmentation into a multitude of incompatible protocols.1