Thales Enables the Future of Digital Payment Innovations with Next-Generation Payment Hardware Security Module

Thales, a leader in critical information systems, cybersecurity and data protection, announces the availability of a next-generation payment hardware security module (HSM), payShield 10K, enabling customers to adopt new innovative digital payment technologies easily and securely. The new payment HSM secures digital payments at lower processing costs by using a fraction of the energy. It also streamlines operations and supports the latest standards for real-time payments, open banking and secure remote commerce.

“Hardware security modules perform a critical function in terms of securing data,” said Garrett Bekker, principal analyst, 451 Research. “This is especially true for hardware security modules used within the payments ecosystem. The ability to secure new digital payment technologies while also providing increased resiliency, improved remote management and lower power consumption should be a welcome development for the market.”

Go Green

To help customers achieve their green data center goals and reduce costs, the payShield 10K features enhanced processing capabilities and power management techniques. This translates into lower overall power consumption, in some cases by up to 40%, even when operating at twice the cryptographic performance. As payShield 10K can be securely managed remotely with a ‘no touch’ implementation, deployments in dark data centers could also be optimized.

Streamlined Operations & Greater Protection

With the introduction of the payShield 10K, deployment has been simplified and operations has been significantly streamlined. Its firmware update workflow process also has been reduced by more than a factor of 10, while maintaining all necessary security checks for code authenticity and integrity.

Stronger tamper protection is a key component of the payShield 10K. In fact, in the event of an attack, it will erase keys and sensitive data immediately. In addition, it will become permanently disabled if attempts to gain access to the inner security module are detected. This advanced level of protection directly addresses key concerns among IT and security executives: half now actively fear exposure of payment card details or other personally identifiable information, according to the 2019 Thales Data Threat Report-Global Edition.

For higher resiliency, the payShield 10K performs new background monitoring of HSM system processes and application code to detect abnormalities and to respond automatically without the need for customer intervention.

“As the growth and adoption of card and digital payments continue to accelerate and new methods of payment evolve, businesses are increasingly challenged to protect the confidentiality and integrity of transactions,” said Todd Moore, Vice-president encryption products for cloud protection and licensing activity, Thales. “With the launch of payShield 10K, we are building on our strong foundation of powering 80% of the world’s point-of-sale transactions, allowing businesses to keep pace with payment innovation, adhere to the latest security standards and embrace a smarter, greener payment infrastructure.” 

About Thales 

The people we all rely on to make the world go round – they rely on Thales. Our customers come to us with big ambitions: to make life better, to keep us safer. Combining a unique diversity of expertise, talents and cultures, our architects design and deliver extraordinary high technology solutions. Solutions that make tomorrow possible, today.  From the bottom of the oceans to the depth of space and cyberspace, we help our customers think smarter and act faster - mastering ever greater complexity and every decisive moment along the way. With 80,000 employees in 68 countries, Thales reported sales of €19 billion in 2018.