Pulsant’s Milton Keynes site achieves PCI-DSS level 1

Cloud, colocation and connectivity expert, Pulsant, has received PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) validation for secure hosting and remote hand services at its Milton Keynes site.

Customers that hold card data within their systems for the purpose of either processing or storage now have the assurance that Pulsant’s Buckinghamshire-based data centre has been independently validated against this robust and comprehensive standard.

The PCI-DSS provides an actionable framework for developing a robust payment card data security process - including prevention, detection and appropriate reaction to security incidents. The Milton Keynes site, the first of Pulsant’s ten privately owned UK data centres to receive the validation, received the vote of compliance from an independent Quality Security Assessor (QSA). This means Pulsant can now issue details from an official Report of Compliance (RoC) to customers looking to host their systems and services at the site removing the need for them to conduct their own audits.

Fergus Kennedy, head of compliance, Pulsant, said: “Whether the customer is a bank, retailer or service provider to a bank, we are making it easier for businesses that are required to be PCI compliant.”

“Our Milton Keynes data centre provides compliance for the physical security and colocation service elements, saving customers valuable time and money by removing the need for them to carry out their own checks. The PCI validation provides increased assurance that customers using this facility have the most secure option to safeguard their own data and that of end users.”

Pulsant is in the process of aligning its security controls across the group. Its UK data centres already meet the stringent requirements set out in ISO 27001, and the company is currently working towards PCI-DSS compliance at key sites in its estate.

Kennedy concluded: “We are working to make our sites and supporting processes as secure as possible. This validation is becoming a de facto security standard for companies operating in the finance sector whether their scope includes credit card data or not. It will give us the scope to widen our market and customers can have the peace of mind that there are specific controls in place surrounding the physical security of their data.”