Bluefin Logo

Bluefin’s PayConex & 3Delta Get Together for Better Decryption

December 24, 2023         By: Steven Anderson

One of the biggest issues confronting mobile payments today is encryption, and for every thing that must be encrypted, something else must be on hand to decrypt it.

While in a perfect world of security, as once was described by a Dilbert strip, “no one would be able to use anything,” we must be able to access certain information in order to carry out the basic principles of operation.

So to help on this front, Bluefin Payment Systems has partnered up with 3Delta Systems in a bid to provide quality decryption on an as-a-service basis for users.

The combination of the two firms means that 3Delta customers will get access to the Bluefin Decryptx system, a PCI-validated point-to-point encryption tool.

Back in March, Bluefin quickly emerged as the company to beat, as it was the first company in North America to land PCI validation for a point-to-point encryption tool in the form of the PayConex system. With the PayConex system, users could make card-based transactions secure by encrypting all data that goes through a PCI-approved point of entry, be it swipe or keypad based.

That keeps clear-text data out of the system, and means that—even should malware manage to find its way into the system as has been the case on several major occasions now—there will be precious little to find without the appropriate encryption keys.

Plus, with PayConex, companies get to have some resources back in terms of PCI compliance; what was formerly an assessment with 288 steps is now just an 18-question affair, pulling fully 270 questions out of the running. More recently, Bluefin rolled out Decryptx, a decryption as a service tool that offers up all the security that PayConex did, but without the need to make changes to a processing relationship.

Bluefin’s chief of integrated payments, Julie Counterman, offered up some comment around the release, saying “We are excited to partner with 3Delta Systems and empower their merchants with the highest standard of payment transaction security for card present transactions, PCI-validated point-to-point encryption powered by our PayConex platform. Security is in our DNA at Bluefin as witnessed by being the first PCI-validated P2PE provider in North America, but also the only company to offer a decryption as a service model, Decryptx, to meet the unique business needs of companies like 3Delta and their merchants.”

Mobile payments have long had one major problem in terms of getting interest, and that’s the issue of security. While the idea of making payments with a mobile device is doubtless alluring to a lot of users out there, as evidenced by the sheer number of alternatives in the field for getting such payments made, ranging from PayPal to Apple Pay and beyond.

But with a host of data breaches still ringing in the ears of mobile shoppers and potential mobile shoppers alike, there’s a certain hesitation, and getting protection measures in place is going to prove a major part of the overall package. With more and better security in place—as long as it doesn’t get too much in the way of ease of use—more users are going to take an active interest in mobile payments.

That means plenty more money up for grabs, and plenty more firms bringing out platforms to try and get a slice of that rapidly swelling market pie. Only time will tell just how this all really works out, but with Bluefin and 3Delta backing the market up on security, we may well get a bigger shot of expansion sooner than expected.