Johannesburg, 8 August 2011: Vodacom is the first telecommunications company in South Africa to be awarded with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS) Merchant Level 1 compliance certification, awarded by the PCI DSS Security Standards Council.
PCI DSS Security Standards Council offers a robust and comprehensive set of standards and materials that enhance the security of payment card data. These standards and materials include a framework of specifications, measurements, tools and support resources that help organisations ensure the safe guard of cardholder information at every step. The introduction of the PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards) has revolutionized security within the e-commerce industry with respect to the way in which credit card data is handled and stored. Ecommerce activity is immeasurably more safe and secure.
Chris Ross, Managing Executive: Commercial Development for Vodacom comments; "We are delighted to be able to offer our business customers the peace of mind that this certification brings. As the take up of virtual services, cloud computing and hosted solutions increases, so too will the need to assure customers their data is safe and secure. The PCI DSS Merchant Level 1 certification is the global standard we have striven to comply with."