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Diagram illustrating how a contactless offline transaction is processed

Merchant & POS

Can a Contactless Offline Transaction Occur?

A contactless offline transaction can occur. If the amount is lower than the floor limit defined on the POS and the card also allows offline authorization, the transaction can be completed offline. Offline transactions are periodically sent by the POS to the acquiring bank.

Payment card illustrating magnetic stripe data used for PIN verification

Credit Card

What is PVV (PIN Verification Value)?

PVV is the number encoded on a card's magnetic stripe that allows the cardholder's PIN to be verified by ATMs and POS terminals. It is a 4-digit cryptogram calculated through a cryptographic operation using the PIN and card data. The real result is longer than 4 digits.

Contactless reader device attached to a POS terminal

Merchant & POS

What Is a Contactless Reader?

These are devices connected to a POS terminal that allow fast payments, up to a certain limit, using contactless credit cards or prepaid cards by tapping them on the contactless reader instead of the POS's card reader. Can every POS have a contactless reader attached?

Diagram of symmetric key types used in payment systems

HSM & Security

Types of Symmetric Keys

In the world of payment systems, keys and their uses are important for transferring information from one place to another, storing information, and securing authorization and scripting steps. Key types are divided into six categories based on their purpose.

Diagram of HSM use case areas in security and payment systems

HSM & Security

What Is an HSM? What Is It Used For?

HSM, short for Hardware Security Module, is specialized security hardware built to store sensitive cryptographic keys in a physical environment and to perform cryptographic operations in the most secure way.

HCE terminology and architecture diagram

HCE

Terms Used in HCE Terminology

When we talk about HCE methodology, many interacting architectural components come to mind. The core terms describing this architecture are listed below, starting with GCM/FCM (Google/Firebase Cloud Messaging), a service for sending push notifications.

POS terminal processing an EMV chip card transaction

Credit Card

Application Interchange Profile (AIP)

The Application Interchange Profile indicates the application functions supported by the card. The AIP values and their descriptions are given below. Where is the AIP found? The AIP is a 2-byte piece of data stored on the card, carried under EMV tag 82.

Close-up of a payment card chip, illustrating EMV cardholder verification

Online & Authorization

Cardholder Verification in EMV (CVM)

Cardholder verification in EMV is specific to chip cards. One goal of EMV is to minimize card fraud. To do this, three parties must be verified: the bank, the cardholder, and the terminal. One of the data items taken from the card to prove identity is...

Illustration of ISO 8583 message format

ISO 8583

ISO 8583 Field Descriptions (F35)

F35 TRACK-2 DATA: The values printed to the card's Track 2 data in ISO 7813 format, including field separators and start/end sentinels, but excluding LRC (Longitudinal Redundancy Check) characters. It is 37 characters long.

EMV Application Transaction Counter ATC 9F36

Online & Authorization

Application Transaction Counter (ATC)

The Application Transaction Counter is the number of transactions made with the card so far. It increases by 1 with each transaction and can also be used as a transaction number, making transactions easier to track.