To make sure that your POS system is secure during the holiday season certain securing measures needs to be taken. Ironically, comes out as a huge responsibility for a retailer. If you are a retailer or a small business owner you will have concerns during the holiday season. These concerns might be revolving around optimised floor plans. Furthermore, incorrect change or a possibility of an internal theft. With the involvement of the modern technology there are a host of new challenges. Hence, these are now introduced in the industry with a broader perspective. One of the main possibilities is that valuable credit card information of a customer can fall into wrong hands and can be misused in future. The modern & new solutions are vulnerable to the loss of internet connectivity, cyber threats & various other concerns.
What are the risks that retailers and small business owners face this holiday season?
WHY RETAILERS ARE VULNERABLE?
Retailers are vulnerable & can get exposed to activities such as fraud, cyber threats & other similar activities. As a matter of fact today’s POS systems i.e. Point of Sale systems are simply modern computers. All they need is an internet connection for functioning as well as transferring transactions and payments information over the same network. However, while they seem to be standard procedures therefore for business owners it’s like routine & they tend to pay the least possible attention. This can easily give rise to major threats that needs highly securing. An example of a threat can be cyber-attack. What if a cyber-criminal is monitoring that network?
Another unfortunate thing that can rise is that malware can go undetected for months and end and gather sensitive information passing through. A POS network failure that is a huge possibility can arise and result in no card transaction. This could also possibly mean no sales. The reason for this is as customers these days usually don’t carry cash with them.
HOW CAN CYBER ATTACKS BE PREVENTED?
While making evaluations how to prevent the cyber risks which includes malicious malware during the season of holidays. Hence, making sure POS systems are protected should be the top most priorities of retailers & business owners. Implemented on board as best practices to mitigate & for securing threats. For the minimising of involved risks, as a retailer this approach can be taken & implemented.
It is just like most of the modern day computers POS machines also have ports that are USB ports. Phones can act as a carrier of threats just like a Trojan horse, and even the person connecting the phone with the port for transaction to get through doesn’t have any idea of the amount of threat it can be. Being plugged directly into machines can be a cause of great havoc. It can cause firewalls or other network protections into unsafe mode. Observed everyday, as safe practices also known as Cyber-hygiene. These are for the prevention of cyber crimes. The retailer must show his efforts of following his journey towards cyber hygiene. You can spend time as well as resources protecting the front-end of your network.
MAKING THE USE OF BEST PRACTICES:
As part of the common practices cyber criminals keep changing their approach every minute so that they can breakdown standard router firewall efforts. With the more advanced solutions offering intelligent network analytics that can easily and in a much better way protect your whole network. Making things difficult to recognise and figure out includes programs and techniques.
Cyber crime prevention can take place simultaneously. Submerged in the system are some key activities taken & adopted as routine activities. They are also commonly termed as ‘Zero-Day’ hacks. Hence, more often a true Front-End protection can make an analysis of patterns to stop a zero-day attack on a business. Showing an eye of concern for your POS security systems. Hence, its far better to take steps regards to risks mitigation and securing. This practice if commonly made will also help your network run more efficiently.