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Solutions/04 — ISO-8583 Proxy
04 — ISO-8583 Proxy

A single proxy between your channels and the switch — encrypts, tokenizes and balances along the way.

Transactional proxy that normalizes messaging between your channels (native TCP ISO-8583, JSON or SOAP) and your switch or banking core in ISO-8583. In the same hop it runs cryptographic transformations via HSM and spreads load across multiple backends, with a persistent queue and circuit breakers.

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IMPACT IN PRODUCTION
3 in → 1 out
TCP ISO-8583 · JSON · SOAP → ISO-8583
Added latency (p95)+8 ms
Throughput per node4,500 tps
Inbound → outbound protocols3 → 1
Solution pillars

Four fronts,
a single defense.

Each pillar can be contracted independently, but it reaches its full potential when they work together on the same control plane.

01

Multi-protocol ingress

Accepts ISO-8583 over native TCP, JSON or SOAP. Always delivers ISO-8583 to the transactional switch or banking core. No client rewrite, no backend changes.

02

Encrypt and tokenize on the fly

Per-field encryption, decryption, tokenization and detokenization via HSM. PAN, PIN block and track2 protected before crossing the backend boundary.

03

Queues and balancing

Message queue with back-pressure and persistence. Round-robin or least-busy balancing across HSMs and backends, with automatic per-destination circuit breakers.

04

High availability

Active-active multi-node deployments. Per-message retries and in-flight persistence during failover — no transaction is lost.

Architecture

One proxy,
three ingress protocols.

Channels speak their native protocol. The proxy converts, transforms and routes. The switch and the core always receive ISO-8583, no matter where the transaction came from.

· Logical flow
01 · Ingress channels
multi-protocol
POS · ATM · external switch
native TCP ISO-8583
Digital banking · APIs
JSON / REST
Legacy systems
SOAP / WS
ingress · 3 protocols
02 · ISO-8583 Proxy
Ziglabit
Adapter
parsing · normalization
Transform
HSM · encrypt · tokenize
Queue
back-pressure · persist
Balancer
round-robin · least-busy
native TCP · Thales
03a · HSM Pool
Thales
payShield 10K
primary
payShield 10K
secondary
ISO-8583 · TCP
03b · Switch / Core
destination
Transactional switch
authorizer
Banking core
settlement
Per-field transformations

Every sensitive bit
passes through the HSM.

Configurable per flow: which fields are tokenized, which are symmetrically encrypted, which are translated between zones. Policy travels with the message, not with backend code.

DE
Field
Operation
Direction
DE 2
PAN
Tokenization · Detokenization
→ in → vault
DE 35
Track 2
AES-256 encryption
→ in → backend
DE 45
Track 1
AES-256 encryption
→ in → backend
DE 52
PIN block
Translation ZPK → BDK/DUKPT
→ translate
DE 55
EMV data (ARQC)
Cryptogram validation
→ in → issuer
DE 64
MAC
Verification / generation
→ both
DE 128
Extended MAC
Verification / generation
→ both
ISO 8583 1987 / 1993 / 2003. Other custom bitmaps are configured per counterparty.
Balancing and resilience

Three strategies.
Configurable per pool.

No single strategy fits every pool. The proxy lets you mix — least-busy on HSMs, sticky on the core — without restarting.

01

Weighted round-robin

Even distribution across HSMs or backends, weighted by declared capacity. Useful when the fleet is homogeneous.

HSM poolbackend pool
02

Least-busy

Each message goes to the node with the shortest queue. Recommended when per-operation cryptographic times are heterogeneous.

HSM pool
03

Sticky by counterparty

Messages from the same session or issuer always land on the same node. Preserves cache affinity and sequence.

backend pool
· Queues and resilience · primitives
Persistent queue
In-flight messages written to disk before client ack. No message is lost during failover.
Back-pressure
The proxy throttles ingress when the backend or HSM queue exceeds the configured threshold.
Circuit breaker
A destination with N consecutive failures is automatically isolated. It re-enters when it answers a health probe.
Idempotent retries
Re-sends messages flagged as safe (echo test, repeat) until policy is exhausted — without duplicating authorizations.
Compliance

Auditable out of the box.

Each control has persistent, exportable, cryptographically signed digital evidence.

PCI-DSS
PCI HSM
PCI PIN
ISO 8583:1987/93/2003
FIPS 140-2 L3
Integrations

Connect with what you already have.

Certified connectors for the most widely used core systems and observability platforms across LATAM.

Prosa
E-Global
Visa BASE I/II
Mastercard MIP
AmEx
JCB
Tibco EMS
Kafka
IBM MQ
+8 ms
Added latency (p95)
4,500 tps
Throughput per node
3 → 1
Inbound → outbound protocols
active-active
Default topology
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