Segurança

Otimização SCA

A otimização SCA da Cardflo ajuda os comerciantes a navegar pelos requisitos de Autenticação Forte de Cliente de forma eficiente. Garantimos a conformidade com o PSD2 e outras regulamentações, minimizando o impacto nas taxas de conversão.

A nossa plataforma gere inteligentemente os fluxos de autenticação, promovendo experiências sem atrito sempre que possível e protegendo as transações de forma eficaz.

Categoria
Segurança
Funcionalidades
10
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A visão geral

Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) optimisation refers to the technical management of two-factor authentication requirements mandated under PSD2 in the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom.

This process sits between the merchant checkout and the issuer authorisation request, determining when a transaction requires a full 3DS challenge versus when an exemption can be applied.

By analysing transaction data such as the merchant category code (MCC), transaction value, and historical cardholder behaviour, an optimisation engine selects the appropriate SCA path. The goal is to satisfy the regulatory requirements of the issuer while maintaining the lowest possible friction for the payer.

Effective SCA management involves the use of Transaction Risk Analysis (TRA) and other specific exemptions to bypass redundant security steps.

This reduces the likelihood of cart abandonment caused by complex authentication procedures, ensuring that the necessary security protocols do not negatively impact the authorisation rates within the payments ecosystem.

Como funciona

  1. Transaction data analysis

    The system evaluates every inbound transaction for specific data points including the merchant category code, transaction amount, and geographic location.

    This initial assessment determines if the transaction falls within the scope of PSD2 mandates or if it qualifies as an out-of-scope transaction, such as mail order or telephone orders.

  2. Exemption engine application

    The engine applies logic to identify eligible exemptions like low-value payments under thirty euros or recurring transactions.

    If the acquirer supports Transaction Risk Analysis, the platform assesses the real-time risk level to request a friction-free flow, notifying the issuer that the transaction meets the threshold for an exemption.

  3. Protocol version selection

    The gateway determines the highest supported version of 3-D Secure, preferring EMV 3DS (3DS2) over older protocols.

    This ensures compatibility with modern mobile banking apps and biometric authentication methods, which provide a significantly better user experience than legacy systems that rely on static passwords or SMS codes.

  4. Dynamic challenge handling

    If an issuer rejects an exemption request and returns a soft decline, the system triggers a platform-level retry with a full authentication challenge.

    This automated step prevents a permanent hard decline, allowing the consumer to complete the two-factor authentication process and facilitating a successful subsequent authorisation.

Por que importa

Authorisation rate preservation

Unoptimised SCA implementations frequently lead to higher decline rates because issuers may reject transactions that lack the necessary flags or authentication data. By correctly categorising transactions and applying the appropriate SCA tags, merchants maintain standing with issuers.

This technical precision reduces the risk of soft declines and ensures that legitimate transactions are not blocked by overly aggressive fraud filters or rigid regulatory interpretations by the issuing bank.

Conversion and friction reduction

The primary cause of abandonment during the payment phase is the introduction of additional steps. SCA optimisation focuses on maximising the use of frictionless flows, where the cardholder is not prompted for manual input.

By strategically using Transaction Risk Analysis (TRA) and low-value exemptions, businesses can process a significant portion of their volume without a challenge, directly improving the bottom line through reduced churn at the point of sale.

Casos de uso

Subscription based businesses

Merchant-initiated transactions (MITs) for recurring billing require specific SCA flags. Optimisation ensures the first transaction is authenticated correctly, while subsequent payments are marked as exempt, preventing recurring revenue loss from authentication failures.

High volume low value retail

Retailers with frequent transactions under thirty euros use SCA optimisation to skip 3DS challenges for the majority of orders, maintaining a fast checkout experience similar to one-click ordering systems common in established marketplaces.

Travel and hospitality

For hotel bookings where a card is stored for later charges, SCA optimisation ensures that the initial validation includes the correct permissions for subsequent off-session charges, reducing issues during the check-out or no-show billing processes.

Cross-border e-commerce

When selling into the European market from outside, specific SCA rules apply. Optimisation logic identifies the regional requirements of the issuer and applies the necessary 3DS protocols to ensure compliance and successful cross-border settlement.

Em números

70-85%
Frictionless flow rate

This represents the typical percentage of transactions that can bypass manual authentication prompts through strategic exemption management within the European market.

2-5%
Authorisation uplift

Merchants often observe this range of improvement in successful authorisations when moving from basic 3DS implementation to an optimised SCA strategy.

<500ms
Process latency

The additional technical overhead for evaluating exemptions and selecting the optimal 3DS version is generally minimal and does not impact page load times.

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O que obtém com Otimização SCA

  • Gestão inteligente de isenções e desafios SCA.
  • Conformidade com PSD2 e outras regulamentações SCA regionais.
  • Otimização dos fluxos SCA para redução do atrito com o cliente.
  • Aplicação dinâmica da SCA com base no risco e valor da transação.
  • Melhoria das taxas de aprovação através da implementação estratégica da SCA.
  • Análises detalhadas do desempenho e taxas de isenção da SCA.
  • Technical support for low-value payment exemptions to minimise friction for small ticket transactions.
  • Integration with network tokens to improve the security profile of stored credential transactions.
  • Logging of all SCA interaction data for audit trailing and regulatory reporting requirements.
  • Optimisation of 3DS data packets to include additional context for improved issuer risk scoring.
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Perguntas sobre Otimização SCA

O que é a otimização SCA?

A otimização SCA envolve a aplicação estratégica da Autenticação Forte de Cliente para cumprir as regulamentações como a PSD2, visando simultaneamente minimizar o atrito com o cliente. Utiliza isenções e desafios dinâmicos para equilibrar a segurança com a conversão.

Como a otimização SCA beneficia os comerciantes?

Os comerciantes beneficiam de maior conformidade com os requisitos regulatórios, redução das taxas de fraude e melhoria das taxas de conversão, evitando etapas de autenticação desnecessárias. Ajuda a manter uma jornada do cliente tranquila, protegendo os pagamentos.

A otimização SCA é apenas para transações europeias?

Embora a Autenticação Forte de Cliente seja principalmente impulsionada pela PSD2 na Europa, os seus princípios estão a ser adotados globalmente. A otimização SCA da Cardflo ajuda os comerciantes a cumprir esses requisitos em evolução, independentemente da sua região operacional.

Are recurring payments and subscriptions exempt from SCA?

Only the initial transaction in a subscription series, which is a cardholder-initiated transaction (CIT), requires SCA.

Subsequent payments are classified as merchant-initiated transactions (MIT) and are technically out of scope for SCA, provided the first transaction was correctly authenticated and the subsequent ones contain the appropriate original transaction ID references.

Optimisation ensures these links are maintained across the payment lifecycle so that renewal payments are not declined for lack of authentication.

How does the low-value payment exemption work in practice?

The low-value payment (LVP) exemption applies to transactions under thirty euros. However, the regulation includes counters; once a cardholder reaches five consecutive exempt transactions or a total spend of one hundred euros, the issuer must challenge the next payment.

An optimisation layer manages these requests but must be prepared for the issuer to refuse the LVP exemption once these thresholds are met, requiring a seamless transition to a full 3DS flow.

Does SCA optimisation affect PCI DSS compliance requirements?

SCA optimisation is a layer that interacts with 3-D Secure protocols and does not directly change the merchant's PCI DSS scope, provided the merchant continues to use a secure gateway or vaulting system.

By handling the 3DS payloads and exemption flags, the optimisation engine operates within the existing secure environment, ensuring that sensitive cardholder data remains protected while the metadata related to authentication and exemptions is managed.

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