Which protocol was developed by Visa and MasterCard to secure electronic transactions?

The protocol developed by Visa and MasterCard to secure electronic transactions is known as Secure Electronic Transaction (SET). This protocol was specifically designed to facilitate secure online credit card transactions and provide a safe mechanism for the transfer of sensitive payment information over the internet.

SET employs various security measures including encryption, digital signatures, and secure certificate exchanges to authenticate the identities of the parties involved in a transaction, ensuring that payment data, such as credit card information, remains confidential and is not tampered with during transmission.

In contrast, while SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is also used to secure online communications by encrypting data exchanged between web browsers and servers, it is a more general purpose protocol and not specifically tailored for credit card transactions like SET. HMAC (Hash-based Message Authentication Code) is a mechanism for message authentication but doesn’t secure transactions directly. SHA-1 (Secure Hash Algorithm 1) is a hashing function used for creating digital signatures but again is not focused on transaction security. The specificity and focus of SET on securing electronic transactions define its importance and utility in the realm of secure online payment processing.