Alaric Achieves Visa Payment Application Best Practice Validation




PABP certification award for Authentic and Fractals enables customers to comply with PCI global data security standard

London, England -/January 12, 2007 - Wi-Fi Technology News/- Alaric International, a leading supplier of advanced technology solutions for the card payments industry, announced that it has received Visa Payment Application Best Practice validation for its Authentic authorisation and Fractals risk management and card fraud detection product ranges.

This key certification, which was awarded by Visa following extensive guidance and auditing by One-SEC, enables Alaric customers to comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), mandated by the major card schemes to protect sensitive data.

Visa has developed the Payment Application Best Practices (PABP) program to support software vendors in delivering secure payment applications that help ensure merchant compliance with PCI DSS. To be considered secure, these applications cannot retain full magnetic stripe data or CVV2 data and must support a merchant's ability to comply with PCI DSS requirements.
?Alaric fully supports measures that will enhance security within the payment industry. The VISA PABP program plays a vital role in maintaining consumer trust and the integrity of payment transactions. This recognition for our Authentic and Fractals solutions will assure our customers of our commitment to meet and maintain the highest possible data security standards,? said Alaric Director, Peter Parke.

?We would like to commend Alaric on their excellent commitment in achieving their validation with the PABP for the Authentic and Fractals solutions. In addition, using the PABP?validated Authentic and Fractals solutions will further facilitate Alaric customers in achieving their own PCI DSS compliance, as required by the payment card industry,? said One-SEC Director of Sales, Benj Hosack.

As card payment technology continues to evolve, card fraud has become ever more sophisticated, and any business that stores or transmits cardholder account data is a potential target. By following the procedures of PCI DSS, organisations can boost customer confidence and maintain consumer trust through a higher level of data security. The standard outlines the measures that merchants must take to ensure any cardholder data handled is secure, including installing and maintaining a secure network, protecting cardholder data, maintaining a vulnerability management programme, implementing strong access control measures, regularly monitoring and testing networks and maintaining an information security policy.

Note:
The Visa PABP validation has been awarded to Authentic Release Version 3.0.4 and Fractals Version 3.2 and will be re-audited annually.


About Alaric International
Headquartered in London, Alaric is a leading supplier of advanced technology solutions for the card payments industry. Alaric offers Java-based solutions for card payments authorization and switching, fraud detection and prevention, risk management and payment systems integration. Alaric?s customers include First Data International, Swisscard, Corn?r Banca and Yorkshire Building Society. Alaric's product set was launched in 2001. Being written in Java, the solutions are fully portable while scalable to meet the needs of the smallest through the largest institution. Alaric's success is a result of its dedicated focus on the payments industry together with a clear recognition of the need to collaborate with partners.
For further information, please visit us at http://www.alaricinternational.com


About One-SEC
Headquartered in Kingston-Upon-Thames, UK, One-SEC is an Information Security Consultancy, with a local presence across Europe and Southern Africa. One-SEC is a Qualified Security Assessor (QSA), approved by Visa and MasterCard to assess against all aspects of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), as well as conducting forensic investigations in the case of data compromise. One-SEC provides a comprehensive range of service based solutions to assist our customers at all stages of the compliance cycle. One-SEC is the leading QSA across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, having certified over 50% of the current PCI DSS Compliant companies across the regions. One-SEC?s success is a result of its 100% focus on the PCI DSS and the simple, well structured methodology designed to assist companies become PCI DSS Compliant efficiently and cost effectively.