Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) protocol is an open specification developed jointly by Visa and MasterCard as a method to secure payment card transactions over open networks.
The SET protocol offers these benefits:
SET ensures that your account and payment information is safe and can be accessed only by the intended recipient. SET uses message encryption to secure your information as it travels across the network, preventing interception of account numbers and expiration dates by unauthorized individuals.
SET enables you to confirm that a merchant has a relationship with a financial institution allowing it to accept payment cards. Digital signatures and merchant certificates ensure authentication of the merchant.
SET enables merchants to verify that a cardholder is a legitimate user of a valid payment card account number without necessarily having access to card account numbers and expiration dates.