On This Page

Introduction to Creating and Using Security Keys

Visa Acceptance Solutions
 requires you to use security keys when sending and receiving API messages. This guide explains how to create and manage your security keys using the
Business Center
.
A security key, also known as a
cryptographic key
, is a string of randomly or mathematically generated characters that are tied to a specific cryptographic algorithm. These keys are used to:
  • Encrypt plain text to allow users to send text across the internet with confidence that the content is secure.
  • Decrypt the encrypted message so that the text can be read by the intended recipient.
  • Validate that the encrypted message has not been tampered with while in transit.
These are the available
Visa Acceptance Solutions
 security keys:
  • Message-Level Encryption (MLE) Keys
  • Meta Keys
  • PGP Keys
  • REST API Keys
  • Secure Acceptance Keys
  • Simple Order Keys
  • SOAP Toolkit Keys
WARNING
Visa Acceptance Solutions
 will no longer support SOAP toolkit keys by these dates:
  • Test environment:
     July 16, 2025
  • Production environment:
     August 13, 2025
If you are integrating to the Simple Order API, you can use the compliant certificate-based
Simple Order key
. For more information, see Simple Order API Keys.

Additional Information

For more information about cryptographic keys, see the article on Wikipedia.