Verified by Visa defines three domains for the authentication process:
- Issuer Domain – where the Issuer is responsible for determining whether authentication is available for the card account presented in a purchase.
- Acquirer Domain – where the Acquirer accepts Internet transaction data from the merchant and passes it to Visa.
- Interoperability/Visa Domain – operated by Visa, where transaction information is exchanged and stored using 3-D Secure as the common protocol.