Patent ID: 8453925

Claim:
An authentication method comprising: inputting, by a merchant, into a merchant system: a mail order or telephone order (MOTO) purchase order; and information pertaining to a transaction card of a cardholder that includes a card number for the transaction card and authentication information provided by the cardholder, wherein data for the MOTO purchase order and the information pertaining to the cardholder's transaction card were both received via mail or telephone; transmitting, from the merchant system, a verify enrollment request to an authentication server, the verify enrollment request comprising the card number for the transaction card and an indicator indicating: that the verify enrollment request pertains to a MOTO transaction; and that the authentication information provided by the cardholder will not be directly transmitted by the cardholder; receiving, at the merchant system, a verify enrollment response from the authentication server, wherein the verify enrollment response indicates whether authentication is available for the transaction card at least on the basis of the card number of the transaction card; and operative if authentication is available for the transaction card: receiving, at the merchant system, an authentication prompt from the authentication server, wherein the authentication prompt does not include or request sensitive cardholder information, wherein the sensitive cardholder information consists of a personal assurance message or a password; entering, at the merchant system, the authentication information provided by the cardholder into the authentication prompt, wherein the authentication information is generated by the transaction card; transmitting, from the merchant system, an authentication request to the authentication server, wherein the authentication request includes the authentication information provided by the cardholder; and receiving, at the merchant system, an authentication response from the authentication server, the authentication response indicating whether the cardholder is authenticated.