In the last few years the credit card industry has mandated several security requirements and regulations for merchants that process, store or transmit card data. These standards were designed to help eliminate payment fraud and they are known as Payments Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS).
Becoming PCI DSS certified is an extremely rigorous and complex process that has merchants of all business sizes seeking assistance to help guide them. Mako Networks is aware of the merchants’ need to achieve compliance with recent standards, and offers services that aim to help these businesses implement a network management system and strategies to meet PCI DSS obligations.
Not only is Mako Networks help other merchants to achieve certification, but they were the first network management company in the world to actually become PCI DSS certified. So what exactly does it take to become PCI DSS certified? Chris Nation, European commercial manager at Mako, took the time to explain the process to PYMNTS.com.
“It means we are externally audited and that we are rigorously audited. It is not something that is easy to do,” Nation said. “To be Level One certified is still relatively unusual and does require a major commitment. It provides an element of reassurance and safety for the merchant.”
He explained further, “The intention is that if the standard is followed by the merchant, it will go a very long way to alleviating and preventing card fraud whether it is card present fraud, which is what we deal in, or not present, for example, eCommerce payment.”
How does Mako Networks differentiate itself from others in what’s becoming an increasingly competitive payments fraud solutions market?
“We all live and breathe the payment space, but the one thing the payment industry is very bad about is just concentrating on the payments system, but we approach things from a much more holistic nature. We are very committed to the card payment industry but its being aware of the far-reaching requirements for data security, outside of payments and making sure that we do the same thing in those areas and help those people with their compliance journeys,” Nation told PYMNTS.com.
Mako performs on a cloud-based management network that allows customers to manage and monitor their system from any location. In order to log in and get access to control operations, all they need is have an Internet connection and web browser. This solution allows merchants to reduce costs and increase flexibility.
Nation explained further, “They don’t have to make costly investment in systems to manage our compliances or licensing to do that. It’s very easy to deploy. From its inception it was designed so that someone didn’t have to be a technical wizard in order to set up and monitor and manage it. This is beneficial for merchants that elect to manage their own systems.”
Merchants aren’t required to switch networks and are instead afforded the convenience of utilizing Mako services through their current network provider.
Nation commented, “We are not requiring the merchants to make any changes to in terms of their own network provider. We require the payment terminals to be specifically authenticated onto their network.”
Mako recognizes that businesses are struggling because they don’t always understand a lot about networking and Internet security. They are constantly asking questions and seeking guidance. In attempt to reduce the questions being asked, they have designed a portal that allows interaction with other compliant parties such as qualified security assessors (QSA).
Nation said, “It allows the interaction with other trusted parties such as QSA, who have compliance portals. One of the real benefits to the merchant is that through that portal experience we can reduce the questions they are having physically having to answer because we can leverage our Level One certification to do that.”
To hear more about Mako Network’s solutions and what they are doing to mitigate fraud payments, listen to the full podcast with Chris Nation below.
*If you have trouble with the audio player above, click here.
Chris Nation, Commercial Manager Europe
Chris is commercial manager for Europe at Mako Networks Ltd, having rejoined the company in 2010. He heads up sales of Mako’s PCI DSS Level 1 certified service which protects and enforces card present payments over public broadband.
With over 22 years experience in the IT industry, Chris has held a number of senior channel management positions at leading companies in both Europe and Asia Pacific. Most recently, Chris spent three years as senior channel sales manager at research in motion. Prior to this Chris was sales channel manager for UK & Ireland at Proxim Wireless Inc from 2005 to 2007, partner manager at Telecom New Zealand Ltd from 2004 to 2005 and business development manager at Mako Networks in 2004.
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