Security

Maximum protection

The security of our Direct Debit processing systems is essential, leading us to develop an industry-leading ‘Stronghold’ environment.

Totally secure Direct Debit processing

SmartDebit is part of Payment Solutions Ltd, which has been providing secure payment processing services since 1998. The company is an approved Bacs commercial Direct Debit Bureau, scoring ‘Excellent’ in all five areas of their latest Bacs audit.

Many bureaus operate on just one server, without any backup. At SmartDebit, we ensure maximum protection for customers’ sensitive data. Our online services are hosted across three provisions, operating out of two separate data centres, running 24/7, 365 days a year. We call this ‘Stronghold’ because of the multiple layers of physical, perimeter, intrusion and isolation protection in place.

Four protection layers

Physical

All three of our provisions are located in tier 3 data centres. The private dedicated racks are locked by proximity access to named individuals, situated in a gated compound manned by security personnel around the clock and throughout the year.

Perimeter

The second level of security surrounding our database comprises of our enterprise integrated Unified Threat Management (UTM) system. This intelligently combines firewall, intrusion, DoS/DDoS with gateway anti-virus, spyware and malware protection.

Intrusion

Our team of in house developers and external IT consultancy firm operate detection and prevention programmes which proactively scan for any signs of intrusion on a daily basis. This system encompasses a Denial of Service mitigation which is backed by system integrity monitoring and external penetration and vulnerability scans.

Isolation

Our data centres are on a completely segregated network to our office. Many Direct Debit Bureaus still operate a connected internal and data centre network which is a huge security risk, giving unauthorised employee access to sensitive Direct Debit and consumer data.