Etisalat receives top data security award

The award, which was presented to Mr Abdulla Hashim, VP of Marketing, Etisalat by Mr Theo Benz, Head of Fraud and Risk, Middle East at Visa International, makes Etisalat one of the first companies in the Middle East or Africa to be granted certification.

'Any organisation that processes transmits or stores Visa account or transaction details must adhere to the highest security standards, and we are pleased and proud that at Etisalat, we can say that we meet those criteria,' said Abdulla Hashim, VP of Marketing, Etisalat.

'It also provides a great sense of reassurance to our customers and partners and reinforces the success that we have achieved in having our ePayment solutions used by leading eCommerce merchants in the region. Customers have also gained confidence in using credit and debit cards over the internet and this has been reflected in the unprecedented growth in transactions through our payment gateway with 84% growth in transaction volume during the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2006.'

Mr. Benz explained: 'Fraud on Visa cards is very low, at less than 10 cents in every US$100 and we are committed to doing all we can to keep it as low as possible. The certification Etisalat has received is evidence that it is committed to keeping its customers' card data safe and to not keeping any customer data that it doesn't need. These procedures remove the possibility of criminals using Etisalat's data to commit counterfeit fraud.

'The payments industry is based on trust; that cards will be accepted, that transactions will be authorised and payments made,' continued Benz. 'It is expected that the information involved in this process will be protected by the most stringent security measures. This certification shows that Etisalat is doing just that'

Visa led the way in setting these standards in cardholder information protection when, in 2001, it introduced its Account Information Security (AIS) programme, the world's first set of security standards for protecting the confidentiality, availability and integrity of customers' data.

The AIS programme was designed to cover any and all organisations that had access to data about Visa account holders. Merchants and their banks, payment processors, and Internet payment service providers were all included, as were service providers such as network operators and web hosting companies.

While Visa took the lead protecting cardholders' data, the industry also set up of the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council, an independent body including representatives from Visa International and the other major card payment organisations. The Council then developed a set of requirements for payment account data security called the PCI Data Security Standard. This was released in January 2005, and later that year Visa's global AIS programme was revised to conform to the new international standard.

'Everyone who participates in card payments is responsible for data security,' concluded Benz. 'Cardholders value the convenience and flexibility of using their cards for everyday shopping and the creation of a set of standards which every payment processing body has to adhere to further reassures all consumers that Visa is the safest way to pay.'