Significant improvement in payment security

More than a year ago, we communicated about the introduction of the Strong Customer Authentication (SCA), an umbrella EU regulation as part of PSD2, the European directive for payment services. An introduction that will bring about a significant change in the way online payments are made. Certainly in our industry.

SCA is all about customer authentication in online transactions, with the aim of making payment transactions safer with less online fraud and less crime. A necessary measure, but complicated and complex to implement. Most EU countries eventually granted a postponement for its implementation. We at VCK Travel are already experiencing some inconveniences from mobile verification codes that are requested when making online bookings with corporate cards.

Final implementation

The introduction in aviation will now take more shape from 1 January 2021. Lufthansa, for example, recently informed us of this. The risk is then that we will increasingly have to deal with requested verification codes for online bookings. This applies to our own VISA cards, but also to customers’ personal (plastic) cards (VISA, Mastercard, etc.). As a result, you may receive a verification code on your phone, for a booking we make for you. Just while you are in a cab, in a meeting. Or maybe the cardholder is an employee of your company, who is sleeping in the meantime due to a time difference. If we don’t get a code from the cardholder, we won’t be able to use the card at that time.

Extra layer of security at VCK Travel

We also see an increase in the number of attempts by scammers to misuse passenger data. Our ISO 27001 certification offers our customers a high level of security. From 2021, we will add an additional layer of security to this and we will also introduce ‘two factor authentication’ for some services.

Our Account Managers will contact you about this shortly. Do you already have questions? Ask your questions by mail or phone.