What is SETS?

SETS, which stands for Secure Electronic Transaction, was a standard protocol developed by Visa and Mastercard in the late 1990s to secure credit card transactions over the internet. Its main goal was to provide confidentiality, integrity, and authentication for online transactions. It involved digital certificates for both merchants and cardholders to verify their identities. While SETS aimed to improve security, it was complex and difficult to implement, leading to slow adoption. It has largely been superseded by other technologies like SSL/TLS and more streamlined payment processing methods.