By Choi Kyong-ae
Credit card companies will fully scrap ActiveX, a system developed by Microsoft in 1990s for online transactions, this month to promote consumers’ convenience, the Credit Finance Association (CREFIA) said Monday.
Card issuers Shinhan Card, Hyundai Card, Lotte Card and NH Nonghyup Card plan to launch alternative software dubbed “Exe-type” later this week. Samsung Card and HanaSK Card are expected to adopt the alternative program next week, the companies said.
BC Card, KB Kookmin Card and Woori Card said Monday they removed ActiveX last year to adopt a new one.
“As the ActiveX security program could only be installed using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, customers were not able to buy products at most of Korean online shopping malls through Chrome and Safari browsers. Most payment gates (PGs) in Korea had ActiveX for security checks for online purchases,” a Shinhan Card official said.
Foreign customers in and outside the country have complained about the security-related inconvenience for years as some of them want to use the Safari or Chrome platform when shopping at Korean online stores. To shop using the Internet Explorer platform, they are also required to undergo cumbersome authentication steps and install the ActiveX security software.
ActiveX has long been the standard security program in Korea for online deals as most PGs, or payment agencies, on behalf of online shops used Internet Explorer.
Pressured by customers’ mounting complaints, however, the financial authorities asked card companies to replace the ActiveX program with broadly available software by the end of March this year, an official at the Financial Supervisory Service said, asking not to be named.
The Exe-type program allows domestic and foreign customers to install it once on their desktop or laptop for security checks when they make an order at Korean online shopping malls. The Exe-type program is available for all three browsers, the CREFIA said.
BC Card, KB Kookmin Card and Woori Card said Monday removed ActiveX last year to adopt a new one.
Information-technology experts said financial companies had become more responsible for any customer information leak or other security-related incidents. They stressed the need to strengthen the Fraud Detection System (FDS).
The FDS which began to be introduced at financial firms in 1998 has spotted 150,000 cases of fraudulent transactions at eight card firms in the past five years, a technology executive at CREFIA said.