MELBOURNE, Australia and SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, June 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- GM Sectec, a global leader in cyber defense and digital payment security, announced it has acquired a majority stake in Scure Pty Ltd, a well-known leader in payment security and Security Software as a Service (SSaaS) products and services in the Oceania region.

The acquisition amplifies GM Sectec's existing presence in Australia and New Zealand, and provides a foundation for accelerated growth across Asia Pacific's rapidly growing markets. In addition, Scure's cloud-based cybersecurity services are a powerful addition to GM Sectec's product portfolio and support its mission to provide innovative and powerful Cyber Defense, Governance and Fraud Prevention Software as a Service.

Today, any entity across the payment ecosystem which accepts, stores and/or transmits payment card data is challenged to meet the quarterly Approved Scanning Vendor (ASV) external network scanning requirement in order to maintain PCI Compliance. GM Sectec's new FirstFire solution is a seamless, intuitive cloud-based offering that enables issuing and acquiring banks, merchants, fintechs, gateways, and processors to run their own scans proactively simply by uploading an IP address. Once the scan is complete and the entity has a passing posture, they are in compliance with PCI Req. 11.2.2 and are provided with certification for assessment validation. In addition, the FirstFire solution includes a "Know Your Customer" API for identify verification and an embedded Crypto Security toolset which uses blockchain intelligence to monitor, trace, and visualize crypto payments for digital asset compliance and risk management.

Speaking about the acquisition, Héctor Guillermo Martínez, President of GM Sectec, shared that "The acquisition of Scure is important on two fronts. First, Scure is a well-established MSSP with a strong team, and they provide a great extension of our global services organization and instant credibility in a region which offers huge growth potential for years to come." He went on to add that "GM Sectec is the world's largest independent Cyber Defense and Fraud Prevention firm laser-focused on payment security. As one of fewer than 90 Approved Scanning Vendors globally, certified by the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC), the integration of Scure's technology into FirstFire means we're able to offer a SaaS solution which allows financial institutions, merchants and service providers to self-provision and run active scans themselves. This is a game changer and will help us better serve clients across APAC moving forward, as well as the thousands of financial entities, merchants, fintech's and processors we serve in over fifty markets today."

Born in the cloud, Scure's SSaaS platform unlocks the full promise of PCI Compliance with pervasive visibility, deep learning, and predictive advanced cyber defense. "We are thrilled to join GM Sectec, the leading MSSP for payment security to banks, processors, gateways, and merchants. Our bench of engineering talent and software is a perfect complement to their existing portfolio, and we're excited to have our innovative solutions distributed globally by GM Sectec's team" said Scure's Managing Director Hector Damian.

Through this acquisition and underpinned by its advanced cloud-based cyber security platform, GM Sectec is raising the bar for the SSaaS market. Mr. Martinez added that "Our team of security experts has a history of innovation and outstanding support. The addition of Scure's active scanning solution solves one of the biggest challenges in delivering an integrated PCI certified continuous attack surface management tool to help merchants, fintechs and processors accelerate detection and investigate crypto fraud and financial crime. Any entity who processes, transmits or stores payment cards is required to run these scans quarterly, so our goal is to make this as easy as possible."

The new entity will be known as GM Sectec Australia Pty Ltd. and headquartered in Melbourne. Clients who have questions or firms who wish to learn more about the FirstFire solution should contact mssp@gmsectec.com.