PCI Accreditation

Securing online payments

Online sales are growing rapidly and in certain sectors revenue levels are nearing those of traditional high street retailers. As a result, banks and card issuers are taking online fraud very seriously – and they expect everyone in the value chain to do so equally. Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) accreditation has been developed as the security standard and increasingly companies that do not comply are being refused a merchant license.

In 2006 TelecityGroup was the first UK data centre provider to achieve PCI DSS accreditation, the international standard developed by Visa and MasterCard, As a result, all customers storing credit card details, customer information and transactional data with TelecityGroup have the guarantee that their data hosting facility complies with the 12-step security standard outlined by the card issuers. Additionally, all customers hosting with TelecityGroup are now exempt from requiring their own data centre accreditation, reducing their own end-to-end transactional PCI DSS accreditation.

Improved time to accreditation

The only way to continue to partner with Visa and MasterCard is to achieve certification. By offering an accredited PCI DSS hosting facility, TelecityGroup is able to reduce this process for many businesses by up to four months.

PCI DSS accreditation is now required by all companies involved in the online transactional lifecycle, from payment processing and transmission through to web and data hosting services, such as those provided by TelecityGroup at its London City data centre. The PCI DSS, a joint initiative from Visa and Mastercard, is a 12-point security standard set up to ensure that cardholder data is processed, transmitted and stored in a secure manner.

If a security breach takes place as a result of non-compliance with this industry-wide security standard, Visa and MasterCard can refuse to cover the cost of the actual and any subsequent fraudulent activity. They also hold the right to fine the company, or individual company directors for failing to provide a secure payment environment, or even close down their payment acceptance mechanisms completely.

For more information on PCI accreditation visit http://www.visaeurope.com/aboutvisa/security/ais/main.jsp

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