Global credit card fraud is on the rise. According to Nilson Report, payment card issuers, merchants, and their acquiring banks lost $11.27 billion to fraud in the calendar year 2012.
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) was created to combat the escalating occurrence of fraud globally by increasing controls around cardholder data and limiting its exposure.
A Level 1 PCI DSS certification is a comprehensive best-practice standard for managing any business that comes into contact with credit card information. For payment service providers like 3G Direct Pay, it is imperative to comply with the highest standards of security in the industry to protect both consumers and travel operators.
To obtain such a certification is a gruelling process, encompassing over 18 months of concerted effort to supply evidence that hundreds of controls and safety features are in place. PCI DSS certification verifies:
- Physical security of offices and data centres
- Strong cryptography and security protocols
- Through staff training
- Supplier agreements
- Encrypting transmission of cardholder data
- Firewalls
- Intrusion detection
- File integrity management
- Regularly testing security systems and processes
Currently, there are very few businesses in Africa that have attained PCI DSS certification. As one of the first to be certified and compliant, 3G Direct Pay invited businesses throughout Africa to join their family of clients, partners, and end-users, who are already enjoying the benefits of PCI DSS. 3G Direct Pay has proven that it offers its customers and their end-users bank-level security, using anti-virus, security features and firewall protection and ensuring that all sensitive information is encrypted, managed and stored based on the highest standards.
By working together with Direct Pay Online as their online and mobile payment processor, hotels, airlines, tour operators, travel agents and other e-commerce businesses throughout the African continent can maintain compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard and can rest assured that they are doing everything possible to reduce fraud and protect cardholders.
The 3G Direct Pay branches in Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Zambia, Uganda, and Rwanda, are all certified PCI DSS Level 1 compliant. Compliance will certainly become a standard business requirement soon.
