Revolutionizing Payment Security: The Journey of Chandan Saxena in Leading Fintech Innovations

In the rapidly evolving world of financial technology, few individuals have made as significant an impact as Chandan Saxena, a 41-year-old IT Professional in the field of digital payment processing. With an illustrious career spanning 17 years, Saxena has been at the forefront of major innovations while working with leading banks such as HSBC, Citi, and CapitalOne. Currently positioned at Shazam Inc, he is spearheading initiatives that are setting new standards in the industry.  Mr. Chandan Saxena, renowned for his profound knowledge of the ISO8583 message protocol and EMV (Europay, MasterCard, and Visa) transaction workflow, has showcased his expertise extensively. His career spans various roles at prominent issuing banks, and notably, he also briefly contributed his skills at one of the United States' leading payment networks, Discover, for a few months in early 2019.

His notable contribution at Discover involved resolving a chronic EMV issue with a merchant's point-of-sale (POS) terminal, which failed to interact with Discover credit cards, leading to transaction failures. This issue was unique to one specific terminal, as other POS terminals at the same merchant location processed the same cards without any difficulty. This persistent problem negatively impacted the merchant's sales and tarnished the customer experience with Discover credit cards. After multiple unsuccessful attempts to resolve the issue over several years, the merchant had ceased reporting it to Discover (Payment Network) and opted to redirect customers to other functioning POS terminals. However, Mr. Saxena, recognizing the direct impact of this unresolved issue on Discover's reputation and service, took the initiative to address it. He proposed a personal visit to the merchant to conduct hands-on testing of the malfunctioning terminal in a live environment. Upon arriving at the merchant's location, Mr. Saxena embarked on a thorough investigation, using production cards that were previously incompatible with the faulty terminal. He meticulously captured all the Application Protocol Data Unit (APDU) commands exchanged between the card and the POS terminal. In the Discover lab, he analyzed these interactions using Discover's EMV manuals, meticulously tracing the EMV message flow and pinpointing where the breakdown in communication occurred between the card and the terminal. After conducting comparative tests with different terminals at the merchant site, Mr. Saxena observed that the Discover Card's EMV profile was functioning correctly, identifying the issue as a faulty EMV configuration in the problematic POS terminal. Specifically, he discovered an error with the Terminal Transaction Qualifiers (TTQ, an EMV Tag) settings, which had been incorrectly set by the terminal vendor. Acting swiftly, Mr. Saxena engaged with the POS terminal vendor to correct the configuration issue. Following the update, he advised the merchant to undergo certification testing again to ensure full compliance and functionality. For his proactive approach and successful resolution of a long-standing issue, Mr. Chandan Saxena was recognized and commended by Discover. His efforts not only rectified a technical problem but also played a crucial role in restoring merchant confidence in the Discover Payment Network, showcasing his exceptional problem-solving skills and commitment to maintaining high standards in payment processing. Saxena's journey is marked by his expertise in integrating advanced protocols like ISO8583 and EMV, which have become the backbone of secure electronic transactions. His work in enhancing Mobile Wallet technologies and Token Transaction systems demonstrates a deep understanding of the need for robust yet user-friendly payment solutions in today's digital age.

One of Mr. Saxena's most significant achievements is the enhancement of ecommerce transaction security through the implementation of a rotating CVV system. This innovative approach involves dynamically changing the CVV at regular intervals, potentially every hour or daily. The generation of these new codes is coordinated through a synchronized algorithm between the card and the card issuer’s systems. This advancement plays a crucial role in safeguarding customers by significantly reducing the risk of fraud, especially in instances where card data may be compromised.