MasterCard and Cyota Speed Global Adoption of Secure Payment Application

Cyota, a leading payment and security technology company, today announced the launch of SecureMPA, an issuer-based cardholder authentication solution that supports MasterCards Secure Payment Application (SPA). Plans are underway for Cyota to deploy the SPA-compliant SecureMPA solution in pilot programs with global issuers this year.

NEW YORK, N.Y. (PRWEB) April 25, 2002 - Cyota, a leading payment and security technology company, today announced the launch of SecureMPA, an issuer-based cardholder authentication solution that supports MasterCards Secure Payment Application (SPA). The specifications utilize MasterCards Universal Cardholder Authentication Field (UCAF) to transport authentication data to all parties involved in an online transaction.

SecureMPA is part of Cyotas existing online payment security platform - Cyota SecureSuite. SecureSuite is a fully implemented payment security product that integrates online payments security initiatives into a single operational platform and user experience. SecureSuite benefits issuers by lowering costs, leveraging investments and reducing stress on scarce IT resources. SecureSuite is a comprehensive platform that works with additional authentication payment schemes, surrogate account numbers and more.

We're extremely pleased to be working with Cyota to offer innovative SPA-based solutions to our members so that they can securely authenticate their cardholders when authorizing an online transaction," remarked Bruce Rutherford, vice president, e-Business & Emerging Technologies, MasterCard International. The Cyota solution will contribute to SPAs long-term success and ultimately help to reduce online fraud and increase consumers confidence while shopping online."

Cyota SecureMPA is available in a number of variations and has many optional features and enhancements. The service is offered in the U.S., Europe and Japan as a hosted solution, or can be implemented at the issuers data center. Cyota fine-tunes and customizes each system based on issuers needs.

We are pleased that MasterCard has confidence in Cyotas technology and implementation experience to support this important initiative," stated Naftali Bennett, Cyota CEO. SecureMPA brings additional functionality to Cyotas market leading payment platform."

Plans are underway for Cyota to deploy the SPA-compliant SecureMPA solution in pilot programs with global issuers this year.

MasterCard UCAF
MasterCards UCAF provides a basis for a guarantee of payment to online merchants by presenting, collecting and passing cardholder authentication information generated by issuers and cardholders. Once collected by a merchant and passed to their acquirer, this information is communicated to the issuer in the payment authorization request and provides explicit evidence that the transaction was originated by the accountholder. UCAF fully supports MasterCard® and Maestro® credit and debit transactions.

MasterCard SPA
MasterCards SPA is an online security solution that utilizes the UCAF railway. SPA generates a unique transaction token each time a registered accountholder conducts an electronic transaction. This token is referred to as the Accountholder Authentication Value (AAV). This 32-character value incorporates elements specific to the transaction and effectively binds the accountholder to a transaction at a particular merchant for a given sale amount.

About Cyota
Cyota (www.cyota.com) is a leading payment security company that is dedicated to helping financial institutions strengthen their customer relationships through reliable, flexible, easy to use payment security products. Cyota SecureSuite is a revolutionary platform designed to serve as the backbone for integrating numerous e-payment initiatives. Cyota services multiple clients in North American and worldwide. Founded in 1999 by leading card and security industry experts, Cyota is headquartered in New York with offices worldwide. Cyota is led by a respected management team with extensive experience in the security, Internet and banking industry and is supported by an international Advisory Board comprised of world-renowned financial and security experts.

About MasterCard International
MasterCard International is a leader in global e-business. The association is focused on providing its member financial institutions with customized, meaningful global e-business solutions that connect them to customers in both the online and offline worlds. Through its investment in industry innovation, participation in standards development and business alliances, MasterCard is staying in the forefront of technology integration to enable anytime, anywhere payments across multiple channels and various devices. MasterCards global e-business solutions include Internet interactive services, security, smart cards, mobile commerce/wireless, business-to-business electronic commerce, and numerous emerging technologies.

MasterCard International has a comprehensive portfolio of well-known, widely accepted payment brands including MasterCardâ, Cirrusâ and Maestroâ. More than 1.7 billion MasterCard, Cirrus and Maestro logos are present on credit, charge and debit cards in circulation today. An association comprised of more than 15,000 member financial institutions, MasterCard serves consumers and businesses, both large and small, in 210 countries and territories. MasterCard is a leader in quality and innovation, offering a wide range of payment solutions in the virtual and traditional worlds. MasterCards award-winning Priceless advertising campaign is now seen in 81 countries and in 41 languages, giving the MasterCard brand a truly global reach and scope. With more than 24 million acceptance locations, no card is accepted in more places and by more merchants than the MasterCard Card. For the year ended December 31, 2001 gross dollar volume exceeded US$986 billion. MasterCard can be reached through its World Wide Web site at
http://www.mastercard.com.
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