In the run-up to the festive season, e-commerce sites are experiencing high volumes of simultaneous traffic. Every year, this rush of visitors undermines the payment processes of certain online sites (slowdown in loading speed, unavailability, degradation of the customer experience…), with very costly consequences for e-retailers.
To combat these inconveniences, it is essential for a payment service provider to host and process its customers’ banking data in a high-security datacenter. In this article, find out how CentralPay protects your sensitive payment data thanks to its sister company Cyrès datacenter.
How a datacenter works
On a technical level, a ” data center ” aims to provide IT services in a controlled (air conditioning, dust, power, etc.) and secure (fire, theft and intrusion protection, etc.) environment, with a corrugated and uninterruptible power supply. Thanks to its enormous storage capacity, this concentrate of technologies can provide web hosting, data security, management (including calculation and cooling) and maintenance of equipment and stored data.
In order to guarantee constant quality of service to its customers, a datacenter operates 24 hours a day without interruption. As a result, many parameters specific to the infrastructure come into play for optimal activity: heat and cooling management, air quality, humidity levels…
However, not all data centers are created equal, in terms of both control environment and security. Numerous labels and certifications exist to validate the performance, high availability and security of each infrastructure:
- ISO27001 : Information security
- PCI-DSS : Security standard for bank data processing
- HDS : Hosting personal health data
- Code of Conduct for Datacenter
Managing the security of sensitive data
For a payment service provider, this infrastructure makes it possible to meet business needs with strong banking constraints, where Big Data environments can offer a wealth of data possibilities. These providers guarantee the security, continuity and confidentiality of the data entrusted to them.
A datacenter therefore implements numerous security measures to protect networks from computer attacks and data breaches (anti-DDoS, firewalls, security patches, anti-virus, load balancer, reverse proxy…). This enhanced data security is essential, especially for the protection of sensitive payment data. What’s more, these are backed up several times at different locations, either locally or outsourced to a remote data repository. This back-up guarantees rapid access to data in the event of accidental loss or deletion.
IT outsourcing needs on the rise in sensitive sectors
For some years now, IT (Information Technology) outsourcing has been gaining ground in the strategies of many companies. The acronym IT refers to a company’s many networks, software and equipment, as well as its enterprise and data management systems. Since 2020, the health crisis has highlighted the advantages of an outsourced, autonomous Information System (IS), capable of ensuring business continuity in all circumstances, remotely.
IT outsourcing is therefore a key issue for companies working with sensitive data (banking, healthcare, messaging, etc.), which requires a high level of protection. For a payment service provider, centralizing these data enables it to control all its IT and technical environments, in line with its payment data security requirements.
Ensuring the storage and security of sensitive data, subject to PCI-DSS constraints, is a major challenge for all payment professionals. For CentralPay, having its web hosting in its sister company’s datacenter is a real advantage in terms of security.
What is Cyrès’ role?
Since its creation, CentralPay has worked closely with its sister company Cyrès, a specialist in Cloud and security. From its ISO 27001 & HDS Tier III datacenter, Cyrès is in charge of web hosting, data security and payment fraud detection. This highly secure environment enables CentralPay to deliver a contractual SLA of 99.9% with an RPO (maximum data loss) of maximum 60 seconds and an RTO (recovery time) of maximum 15 min.
The Cyrès high-tech datacenter is ISO 27001 certified, the international reference standard. It enables optimum management of information security risks, through rules for monitoring, reviewing, maintaining and improving information systems security management. In addition, the datacenter is certified as a Health Data Host (HDS).
In terms of telecommunications, Internet access to the Cyrès datacenter is provided by multiple operators to guarantee optimum availability. The datacenter also benefits from the France-IX peering point, significantly reducing latencies to major international IT players. These features are essential to guarantee high availability and low latency for transaction processing.
Located in Tours, just a few kilometers from the CentralPay offices, the Cyrès datacenter guarantees local storage of your banking data. The building has a capacity of 110 computer server racks and a power density of up to 32 A per rack. With a strict visitor access control protocol (up to 6 access controls, including strong authentication), a video surveillance system covering all 700m², and a compulsory certified attendant, data security is guaranteed.
So, in addition to the tokenization process managed in-house, CentralPay benefits from an in-house datacenter, enabling it to ensure data security and the smooth running of your payment pages, even during periods of high visitor numbers on your e-commerce site.
As a payment service provider, CentralPay can help you digitize, optimize and secure your payment processes, to help you imagine the purchasing paths of tomorrow.
