3D Secure (3DS) has been at the forefront of online payment security for more than 20 years, developing through multiple iterations, currently at 3D Secure 2.2 to satisfy the needs of cross-device authentication, whilst providing a seamless checkout experience. By transferring the liability to the issuers for merchants and acquirers and authenticating cardholders, it continues to play a crucial role in 2025, particularly in EMVCo-approved fraud methods.
However, defenses must also change to match the changes in fraudulent behaviour. The magic bullet is no longer just 3D Secure. Certain types of payment fraud are prevented, but not all of them, particularly in situations like complex account takeovers, post-purchase disputes, and first-party misuse.
“Should we use 3D Secure?” is no longer a question, the answer is yes. What else should be in your fraud stack to guard against newer threats is now today’s question.
In this article we will discuss where 3D Secure fits in and how layered fraud prevention functions in 2025 and beyond.
What 3D Secure Actually Does and What It Doesn’t
The purpose of 3D Secure 2.2 is to confirm that the individual making the purchase is the actual cardholder. Online payments are made more trustworthy by verifying the user through SMS codes, biometrics, or push alerts from the app. Importantly, it also transfers 3DS liability shift to the card issuer, therefore in the event of a chargeback and proper application of 3DS, the merchant is typically not liable for damages.
However, its protection ends there.
Post-purchase problems, such as a consumer contesting a legitimate transaction because they forgot, changed their mind, or failed to recognize the billing descriptor, also referred to as friendly fraud, are not prevented by 3D Secure. Additionally, it offers no protection against account takeovers, in which a fraudster authenticates using the actual cardholder’s device after using valid login credentials.
There is a widespread misunderstanding that 3DS guarantees chargeback immunity, particularly among merchants of digital items, SaaS and subscription services. It doesn’t. A large number of chargebacks are still not covered by 3DS’s protections.
For this reason, 3D Secure is required yet insufficient for large Merchants, Merchant Acquirers, Payment Service Providers (PSPs) and PayFacs functioning in high-risk or recurring billing contexts. It needs to be a component of a more comprehensive, multi-layered fraud prevention plan designed for actual risks faced in today’s environment.
The Layered Defence Model for Modern PSPs
By 2025, large Merchants, Merchant Acquirers, PayFacs and Payment Service Providers (PSPs) cannot afford to depend solely on one fraud protection technique. The potentially hazardous landscape is changing too quickly, and fraud techniques are getting more complex. Leading platforms are switching to a layered fraud protection architecture as a result, integrating several defenses across the transaction lifecycle.
Before a purchase is authorized, pre-transaction measures such as 3D Secure 2.2, real-time fraud scoring and device fingerprinting assist in confirming identification, and preventing high-risk activities. Although they don’t capture everything, these precautions lessen the likelihood of automated attacks and the use of stolen cards.
Rules-based logic and specific velocity limits, like restricting the number of transactions that can be performed from the same card, IP, or user account within a given duration, can be applied by merchants and platforms during the transaction. These in-flow rules assist in identifying trends, including repeated purchases made using stored credentials or test transactions performed by a bot, that could get around 3DS. This is where merchant-specific thresholds and bespoke risk logic (adjustable through PayShield’s Transaction Risk API) may provide significant protection in real time for PSPs, PayFacs, large merchants and Merchant Aggregators without interfering with loyal customers.
A last line of defense is offered after the transaction by technologies like chargeback deflection tools, Ethoca Alerts, Verifi Rapid Dispute Resolution (RDR) and Verifi CDRN Alerts. These systems enable proactive settlement, frequently prior to the filing of a chargeback, and alert merchants when a customer begins the process of contacting their bank and inititiating a chargeback.
3D Secure is still a fundamental tool, but it is not a complete security solution. A multi-layered PSP fraud stack is the only approach to control risk, lower operational losses, and maintain compliance with changing acquirer and card network regulations in high-risk verticals including SaaS, subscriptions and digital goods.
Why Data Portability Matters: The Hidden Risk of Lock-In
The majority of payment companies include 3D Secure in their suite of fraud prevention tools, but they fail to disclose that your 3DS data remains on their servers.
Challenge results, issuer response codes, frictionless flows and device fingerprinting metadata are examples of crucial fraud indicators. That data is not transferred when a merchant moves to a new PSP or acquirer. Your risk engine loses its historical context as a result of this interruption, and your new provider is left without knowledge of your previous authentication trends or consumer behavior.
This is particularly problematic for Merchant Aggregators, larger merchants, PayFacs and PSPs who scale merchants across regions or manage high-risk verticals. Lack of 3DS data portability forces you to start over when rebuilding your data warehouses or fraud models, which raises false declines, lowers authorization rates, and creates new fraud channels.
This is resolved by PayShield’s strategy for 3D Secure 2025.
All 3DS data is still merchant-owned and completely transferable with PayShield. Even when you change processors or acquirers, you still have complete access to all authentication signals. This provides you total control and guarantees that, regardless of how your payment stack changes, your layered fraud prevention strategy will always be efficient and reliable.
You cannot afford to be denied access to your own historical data in a world where data is essential for preventing fraud.
How PayShield Enhances 3D Secure in the Fraud Stack
PayShield’s 3D Secure solution is designed for modern fraud teams to provide an integrated, multi-layered defense rather than merely fulfill a compliance requirement.
You keep the result, issuer decision data and session intelligence as soon as a 3DS challenge is over, whether it is successful or not. That 3DS record is automatically connected to subsequent resolution procedures in the event of a dispute, which helps you avoid chargebacks more quickly and keep your fraud ratio low.
PayShield’s business strategy is future-proof for PayFacs, PSPs and merchant aggregators:
- No vendor lock-in – Even if you change processors or acquirers, you still have complete access to your 3DS data.
- Infrastructure that is ready for audits and analysis – All authentication attempts are recorded and exportable
- Dynamic fraud stack integration – Insights from 3DS stream can be directly included into your larger prevention and resolution logic.
To put it briefly, PayShield enhances 3D Secure rather than merely providing it. In a stack built for scalability, flexibility and real-world dispute resolution, it is a key layer.
Summary
Although 3D Secure is still essential to the security of online payments, it is but one piece of a much bigger fraud prevention puzzle in 2025. On its own, it is unable to prevent friendly fraud, account takeovers, or post-purchase disputes, even while it assists with cardholder verification and liability shifting.
Pre- and post-transaction tools must be combined in a modern fraud stack, and 3DS must be smoothly incorporated into your analytics and Alerts. The most crucial need is that your data be portable.
The 3D Secure solution from PayShield goes beyond simple authentication. It helps you create a robust, future-ready risk strategy by guaranteeing that your fraud signals are scalable, connected and available across acquirers, platforms and processors.
Contact PayShield here to find out how we can assist PayFacs, PSPs, Merchant Aggregators or larger merchants with implementing 3D Secure 2.2 as a component of a multi-layered fraud defense without compromising control or flexibility.
