British food giant chooses area firm to protect data

NAPLES — The Co-operative group, one of the largest food retailers in the United Kingdom, selected ACI Worldwide to run card operations in its 2,800 stores.

“Against the backdrop of numerous high-profile data breaches in Europe and the U.S., protecting customer data is imperative for many retailers, such as the Co-op, which is utilizing ACI to help ensure its customer data remains secure,” says Andrew Quartermaine, head of merchant retail for ACI Worldwide, in a statement.

Naples-based ACI has developed an encryption technique that protects sensitive cardholder data in transit from a merchant to its bank. The encryption converts a consumer's confidential credit and debit card data into indecipherable codes at the point of payment. This conversion prevents theft and subsequent fraud.