The Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMI) and Phoenix Managed Networks have signed a deal to provide the RMI’s 7,000-plus membership with protection for their card payment systems.

Phoenix has agreed a special rate to provide RMI members with its PhoeniXSentry system to keep their card data secure.

PhoeniXSentry is a firewall service that is compliant with Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS), and because of the way it operates it is constantly updated so it keeps up with the standards as they evolve.

Julian Phillips, head of commercial services at the RMI, stated: “Everyone who accepts card payments needs to take security seriously including the RMI which is why we are leading by example for our members.

“The team at the RMI head office, like many of our members, were confused about the exact measures needed to be PCI compliant.

“We knew our card machine was compliant but had not fully appreciated that our whole network needed to be secured as well. Our Phoenix solution went live in the head office this week and is working seamlessly in the background.”

Alan Stephenson-Brown, managing director Europe for Phoenix Managed Networks, said: “PCI compliance is something which needs to be constantly maintained. Failure to maintain security has led to many avoidable data breaches which have cost small merchants thousands of pounds in fines.

“Our solution alleviates this worry for merchants by continuously maintaining compliance coupled with the best possible network security and fast and safe payment authorisation to and from the banks.”