EMV Certificate Authority
Overview
Cryptomathic’s EMV Certificate Authority provides the PKI components required by payment card schemes and issuers for EMV card authentication. It manages the issuance and lifecycle of EMV certificates aligned to Visa and Mastercard requirements, enabling chip card authentication for secure payment transactions.
Unsung implements Cryptomathic EMV CA for UK financial services customers that operate payment card issuance or acquiring infrastructure and require compliant, well-managed EMV certificate services.
The Challenge
Payment card issuers and acquirers must operate EMV certificate infrastructure to support chip card authentication in accordance with payment scheme requirements. EMV PKI has specific technical and compliance demands that differ from general-purpose PKI, including alignment with scheme-specific certificate profiles, key management procedures, and audit requirements defined by Visa, Mastercard, and other payment networks.
Managing EMV certificate infrastructure alongside general enterprise PKI creates operational complexity. Organisations need specialist tooling that meets payment scheme requirements and integrates with their card issuance and acquiring systems, whilst maintaining the key management discipline and audit evidence that scheme compliance demands.
What It Does
The EMV Certificate Authority provides purpose-built PKI services for payment card environments. It issues and manages EMV certificates conforming to payment scheme specifications, maintains certificate hierarchies required by Visa and Mastercard, and provides the key management operations needed for secure card personalisation and transaction authentication.
The platform integrates with HSMs for the key protection standards required by payment schemes and works alongside Cryptomathic’s CKMS for broader key lifecycle management across the payment infrastructure. It supports the certificate and key management workflows specific to both card issuing and acquiring environments.
How Unsung Helps
Unsung helps financial services clients assess their EMV PKI requirements, design compliant certificate architectures, and implement Cryptomathic’s EMV CA within their payment infrastructure. Our consultants understand the intersection of payment scheme compliance and PKI best practice. Our PKI Consultancy service provides independent guidance on payment PKI architecture and compliance.
Related Unsung Services
PKI Consultancy — Advisory on payment PKI, EMV compliance, and certificate architecture.
PKI Design & Build — Design and implementation of payment card certificate infrastructure.
Hardware Security Modules — HSM deployment for payment scheme key protection requirements.
