BCSS vs. Custom Code

BCSS is a better alternative than custom programming.
Why develop your own software when there’s the Bank Card Security System (BCSS) from Prime Factors? BCSS gives you the most cost-effective way to produce secure financial transaction cards (credit, debit, prepaid and gift).

BCSS reduces the time-consuming programming required to meet stringent security standards established by Visa®, MasterCard®, Discover® and American Express®. It is the lower cost alternative to custom programming ordinarily used to implement key management and create card security codes and PINs.

BCSS is designed to work with the Thales HSM 8000, which meets the FIPS 140-2 Level 3 security standard issued by the U.S. Government. BCSS reduces programming necessary to facilitate use of the Thales HSM in a secure card processing environment. BCSS builds host commands necessary for Thales to create encrypted keys, manages Ethernet (TCP/IP) communication and stores a database of encrypted keys created by the Thales HSM 8000.

With BCSS, you no longer need to constantly upgrade your custom code to take advantage of new functionality in the Thales HSM 8000 firmware. BCSS and the Thales HSM 8000 work together to deliver important key management functionality that includes key hardware, key generation, key distribution, key loading, key storage and key usage.

• A library of subroutines handles more than 100 functions that access the BCSS database and the Thales HSMs.
   
• Subroutines streamline calls to the Thales HSM 8000 to create and verify security codes.
   
• Subroutines can be called from popular programming languages such as COBOL and C.
   
• A user-friendly Card Utility program for Windows and UNIX eliminates the need for most common programming tasks.
   
• BCSS provides a debug trace of communications with Thales HSMs.
   
• BCSS supports the Thales Security Resource Manager (SRM) for load-balancing multiple HSM 8000s.
   
• BCSS supports CICS and TSO environments on the IBM mainframe.

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