Yerevan/Mediamax/. ArCa Company (Armenian Card) went a long way and through complex procedures to receive international PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) international certificate.

Mediamax reports that Deputy Security Director of ArCa Gagik Grigoryan said this in Yerevan today, adding that the company’s audit had been in process since 2006, and only in December, 2009, ArCa was recognized fully meeting PCI DSS standards.

Gagik Grigoryan presented statistics of passing audit to be issued the certificate. According to him, in 2006, the audit, carried out by KPMG, revealed 59% compliance of ArCa to PCI DSS standards. Later on, the audit was realized by “Informzaschita” Company, following the results of which ArCa secured 69% in 2007, 82% in 2008 and 100% in 2009 as to compliance to PCI DSS standards. The certificate is issued for a year, so at the end of the year new audit will be carried out, Grigoryan stated.

Within the framework of measures on meeting PCI DSS standards, secure ArCa network was elaborated and built; software support of the processing center on realizing requirements on protecting payment card data was updated, a monitoring and notification system was introduced, personnel training was carried out, etc. 

According to Grigoryan’s assessment, compliance with PCI DSS standards provided for a high level of security of ArCa payment system and invulnerability of the card holders’ data bases, increased professional qualification and awareness of the personnel, minimized chances of fraud.

Over 600 cash machines function in ArCa system today. The tendency for growth makes 100-200 cash machines a year.