As of December 31, 2020, banks and online payment service providers must request strong authentication from their customers whenever they make online purchases with a card.
What is strong authentication and how does it work?
If you use homebanking or your bank’s app or make purchases online, you benefit from a standard set of rules that guide the payment processing industry. Now, the rules of payment services have changed across the European Union with your security in mind.
Since September 2019, payment service providers will have to perform strong customer authentication, known as SCA – Strong Customer Authentication whenever they want to:
- Access your bank account online
- Make a digital payment
- Take a remote action that presents a risk of fraud or other similar payment situations.
When performing strong authentication, banks and payment service providers need to ask the customer for two or more elements belonging to the categories of “knowledge” (for example, a password or PIN), of “possession” (for example, a code sent by SMS to the mobile phone, proving, in this way, the possession of the device), and “inherence” (a characteristic that identifies the user, such as the fingerprint).
Additional security measures for accepting payments online
To continue making online payments with a card, contact your bank/payment service provider and inquire about the planned changes.
Strong authentication allows payment processing companies, such as easypay, to validate customer ID and the legitimacy to use the payment service with increased security.
Source: Banco de Portugal