A protocol to allow credit card information to be safely and securely transmitted over the Internet is discussed. This protocol, Secure Electronic Transaction (SET), has become the standard for many major credit card companies and financial institutions that are doing business on the World Wide Web. The problem of secure transactions is troubling to many people and is seen as a major roadblock to participation in online purchasing. The SET protocol is an attempt to answer the concerns of individuals and businesses alike in this important area.

This book was written with two audiences in mind: the technical people who are responsible for implementing and maintaining the SET protocol at their sites, and business executives who are responsible for the decision to enable online financial transactions.

It contains numerous examples and a wealth of technical material to satisfy the most exacting technical person. Detailed listings of code illustrate the implementation of payment flow structures, purchase initialization and response, authorization requests and responses, validation, and formats. Given the information here, technical people will be able to determine whether this protocol will satisfy the design requirements of the existing or planned application.

For the executive, there is ample nontechnical material explaining the nature of the SET protocol and how it enables financial transactions to flow securely through the system. Executives who are concerned about security and how it will affect their businesses and their customers will find sufficient information to enable them to decide about the feasibility of adopting this software and implementing online commerce.

The book does not adequately explore the effect of SET on the customer: it is not clear how customers will interact with the protocol or how it will appear to them. Is SET transparent, or does it assure customers that their information is safe?

This is a good source for technical professionals and executives who need to know more about secure financial transactions. In a real sense, it is a tutorial on the broader subject, with illustrations using a single protocol, SET. The examples are in SET, but the discussion is applicable to almost any study of financial transactions on the Internet.