Substitute Cards Aim To Boost Security

Orbiscom said it expects recent broad security breaches involving credit card data to give a lift to its Controlled Payment Numbers technology aimed at securing online purchases. The product, known as ControlPay, enables credit and debit cardholders to generate a substitute number when making a 'card not present' purchase. The real card number is never revealed during the purchase and is never stored in the merchant's database. Orbiscom markets the product to several large card issuers under various brand names, including ShopSafe (MBNA); Discover Desktop (Discover); and Virtual Account Numbers (Citibank).