Nov 20, 2008 : Maquarie Data Center PCI Certified

📅 November 20, 2008 - As Australian businesses face a looming Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards compliance deadline, Macquarie Telecom's (macquarietelecom.com 👉 Total Reviews: 1
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According to the company's announcement, Macquarie Hosting is the first and only dedicated hosting provider in Australia to achieve PCI DSS compliance, after being issued a report of compliance this week by Vectra Corporation, a qualified security assessor endorsed by the PCI Security Standards Council (pcisecuritystandards.org).

Created by a partnership between the five major payment card brands, PCI DSS is a mandatory IT security standard established for organizations that store, process and transmit cardholder information. Starting in January 2009, PCI DSS compliance reporting will be strictly enforced by issuing banks for any organization that processes payment information, including online businesses. Non-compliance can result in substantial fines or suspension of a business' merchant account facility.

"In our experience it can take months and hundreds of thousands of dollars to achieve compliance for an enterprise class data center which, in the current tight economic circumstances, can be unfeasible for medium businesses," Macquarie Hosting managing director Aidan Tudehope said in a statement. "As a specialist working with leading online transaction based organizations, we saw PCI compliance as an absolute must for Macquarie Hosting to help our customers prepare for their reporting deadlines."

This rigorous standard to achieve and maintain, adds to Macquarie Hosting's existing accreditations, including its full Defence Signals Directorate certification (administered by the Australian Information Security Evaluation Program, which oversees IT security evaluation activities) to the level of "highly protected" and ISO 27001 ISMS certification. This latest accreditation reinforces Intellicentre's leading role as one of the most highly certified in Australia, where online credit card fraud continues to soar to a record high of $40 million between 2006 and 2007, according to Australian Payments Clearing Association data.

"Implementing global best practice PCI standards to mitigate risks and maintain control in these circumstances is vital for businesses to protect customer security," said Tudehope. "Macquarie Hosting is able to deploy solutions to ensure the long term success of these businesses. Our approach is about building a sustainable PCI compliance program, not just looking at PCI compliance as a standalone check-list."