Chris Sutherland Named Director of Enterprise Security at Merchant Link

SILVER SPRING, Md., Sept. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Merchant Link, a leading provider of payment gateway and data security solutions, has named veteran security expert, Chris Sutherland, as director of enterprise security. Sutherland reports directly to the CEO, Dan Lane.

The appointment of Sutherland as Merchant Link's Director of Enterprise Security reinforces the company's focus on delivering the world's most innovative payment security solutions for merchants. It also demonstrates the company's continued investment to bringing peace of mind to merchants navigating the world of transaction processing.

"The cybersecurity environment is changing and merchants are quickly becoming a target of organized groups and hacktivists seeking to make an example out of the most popular brands," said Dan Lane, president and CEO of Merchant Link. "Consumer trust and brand reputation is at stake.  Merchant Link takes the security of payment data seriously and the addition of Chris Sutherland, who is an information security industry veteran, will ensure that the company's security solutions are equipped to protect our customers from these threats now and as they evolve in the future."

As new credit card breaches occur daily and businesses see increased pressure to secure their customers' data, Merchant Link is poised for growth in what is expected to be a rapidly expanding market. Sutherland's information security knowledge and experience will ensure Merchant Link's solutions maintain the highest level of credibility.

"Security threats are a major concern to merchants in today's environment," shared Chris Sutherland. "Since Merchant Link's inception, we have provided cutting-edge payment solutions, tokenization and security technologies to help merchants protect their customers. As a member of the Merchant Link team, I will drive development of these solutions and further expand the breadth and depth of our security services to support merchants."

Prior to joining Merchant Link, Sutherland provided information security guidance to organizations, such as Abt Associates, the Department of Justice (DoJ), the Department of Defense (DoD) and Wells Fargo Bank.

About Merchant Link

Merchant Link is a leading provider of cloud-based payment gateway and data security solutions, removing the risk and hassle from credit card acceptance for more than 150,000 hotel, restaurant and retailers. Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Silver Spring, Md., Merchant Link currently enables more than 3 billion transactions annually for some of the world's best-known merchants, providing connectivity to the major U.S. payment card processors. TransactionVault™, our tokenization solution, and TransactionShield™, our point-to-point encryption solution, mitigate the risk of a data compromise while lowering the cost and effort of PCI compliance. Further information is available at www.merchantlink.com. For our expert opinion on encryption, tokenization and PCI compliance, visit our blog at www.merchantlinksecuritycents.com.

Media Contacts:
Shany Seawright, 240-485-1081
[email protected]

SOURCE Merchant Link