EMV Certificate Authority
Overview
Cryptomathic's EMV Certificate Authority provides the PKI that payment card schemes and issuers rely on for chip card authentication, issuing and managing EMV certificates in line with Visa and Mastercard requirements. As a Cryptomathic Bronze Partner, Unsung supplies and implements EMV CA for UK financial services organisations running card issuance or acquiring infrastructure.
Buying EMV CA through Unsung
- Partner pricing. Our Cryptomathic partnership gives you access to preferential pricing.
- Independent licensing advice. We recommend the licensing model and product mix that suits your payment operation, so you get value for money from Cryptomathic.
- Integration with your payment estate. We make sure EMV CA works with your payment HSMs, card personalisation and issuance systems, and any existing Cryptomathic CKMS deployment.
- Specialist support. Our PKI specialists handle first-line triage and escalate to Cryptomathic when needed.
The Challenge
Card issuers and acquirers must run EMV certificate infrastructure to support chip card authentication under payment scheme rules. EMV PKI is not the same as general-purpose PKI. It has to follow scheme-specific certificate profiles, key management procedures and audit requirements set by Visa, Mastercard and other networks.
Running this alongside enterprise PKI adds operational complexity. Organisations need dedicated tooling that meets scheme requirements, connects to their issuing and acquiring systems, and maintains the key management discipline and audit evidence that scheme compliance depends on.
What It Does
EMV CA delivers PKI services built specifically for payment card environments. It issues and manages EMV certificates to payment scheme specifications, maintains the certificate hierarchies Visa and Mastercard require, and carries out the key management operations needed for card personalisation and transaction authentication.
The platform uses HSMs to meet the key protection standards payment schemes demand, and works alongside Cryptomathic CKMS for wider key lifecycle management across payment infrastructure. It supports the certificate and key workflows of both issuing and acquiring environments.
How Unsung Helps
We help payment organisations assess their EMV PKI requirements, design a compliant certificate architecture and implement EMV CA within their existing payment infrastructure. That includes HSM integration, connection to issuance systems and support once in production. Designs are aligned with both payment scheme requirements and PKI best practice, so they stand up to audit.
EMV CA is often one part of a wider payment security estate. For key protection, we also supply payment-ready HSMs such as the Futurex Classic Enterprise Platform and Luna Network HSM 7, and for broader key lifecycle control, Cryptomathic CKMS. Our advice on which combination to use is driven by your scheme obligations and existing estate.
Related Unsung Services
- PKI Consultancy: Advice on payment PKI architecture, EMV compliance and certificate design.
- PKI Design & Build: Design and implementation of payment card certificate infrastructure.
- Hardware Security Modules: HSM deployment to meet payment scheme key protection requirements.
