Teraco Data Environments has successfully achieved the Level 1 Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) certification for its co-location data centres throughout South Africa.
CEO Lex Van Wyk says that, “with this accreditation, and the largest aggregation of connectivity in Africa, Teraco is now the ideal space for electronic payment processing businesses to locate their data systems.
“With credit card fraud on the increase and with the ever-growing shift towards card transactions, security has become a critical focus. PCI DSS is a set of comprehensive standards developed to increase payment data security and is endorsed by the major payment card brands.
“This certification now ensures that our clients’ can focus on their business knowing their data infrastructure and applications are hosted in a PCI compliant environment, our clients can trust us with their sensitive payment card information,” says Van Wyk.
Data security and compliance are key business drivers for online retailers and other organisations that process payment card transactions. Companies handling or accepting payment cards are globally required to meet the PCI DSS certification and failure to do so can prove costly, resulting in large fines if a data breach takes place as a result of not being compliant.
“Our work in forensics and a casual review of the latest data breach headlines confirms that compromises of customer sensitive data are on the rise. In light of the escalating data security threat and POPI in South Africa, businesses are encouraged to utilise services of a PCI DSS compliant hosting provider such as Teraco,” says Andrew Henwood, director of Operations at Foregenix.
“Working with a compliant hosting provider can significantly assist merchants in their own PCI DSS compliance validation efforts as well as to alleviate their risk.”
To achieve the industry-recognised standard for payment-card security, Teraco took part in an extensive evaluation and assessment process. A comprehensive examination of its procedures, policies, technical systems and technology infrastructure was evaluated via leading third party qualified security assessor (QSA), Foregenix.