November 20, 2008 – (HOSTSEARCH.COM) – The Macquarie Hosting Data Center (“Intellicentre”) has achieved Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) accreditation, it was reported recently According to the company, they are the first in Australia to achieve this standard, with its Sydney-based data center achieving Report On Compliance (ROC) – the highest level of PCI DSS. Macquarie’s news comes as Australian businesses prepare to meet the deadline to achieve and report PCI DSS compliance.
The PCI DSS was established by major payment brands (Visa International, MasterCard International, American Express, Discover and JCB) and is now mandatory in Australia for organizations that “store, process and transmit cardholder information”. PCI DSS compliance will be enforced by issuing banks from January 2009. Non-compliance might “result in substantial fines or suspension of a business’ merchant account facility”.
“Customer feedback has shown that the cost and resource requirements to achieve and maintain PCI Compliance are a significant burden for many mid-sized businesses,” explained the Managing Director of Macquarie Hosting, Aidan Tudehope. “In our experience it can take months and hundreds of thousands of dollars to achieve compliance for an enterprise class data centre which, in the current tight economic circumstances, can be unfeasible for medium businesses. 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.”
Macquarie Hosting’s accreditation eases the burden on its customer’s IT departments, who do not now have to work towards compliance for their company’s online presence. The company’s accreditation “reinforces the Intellicentre as the most highly certified data centre in Australia” and “adds to Macquarie Hosting’s existing accreditations that include full DSD certification to the level of highly protected and ISO 27001 ISMS certification”.
“Figures on the value of online fraud using Australian credit cards continue to soar according to the Australian Payments Clearing Association, reaching a record high of $40 million between 2006 and 2007,” added Mr. Tudehope. “Implementing global best practice PCI standards to mitigate risks and maintain control in these circumstances is vital for businesses to protect customer security. 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.”
