Retail sectors have been entrenched as a destined target for cyber criminals to gain access to the stash of customer details. The fraudsters around the virtual space exploit the unseen vulnerabilities of the retail organization’s network. They try and make a way to access unencrypted customer information that are not fenced with any security defences.
POS – Point of Sale systems of any retail organization or of the vulnerable third party who handles all the transactions are the most common means to source out customer information as they hold a complete database of credit card and debit card numbers and all the sensitive information about the customers. If the third party payment system liable for protecting the details are not strict with its security policies, it would definitely be a cake walk for the creepy enthusiasts to devour and gain access to the system that holds the critical customer details.
The third party payment module might not have hosted a proper security protocol which takes a toll on the health of the POS system making it vulnerable and prone to hacker’s attack. This probes the hacker for an easy reach and hence helps to penetrate the network. Hackers develop new techniques like key-logging so as to gain access on remote once the card is swiped or sometimes to skim the data once the card is swiped and also exploit the system to establish advanced attacking techniques through the compromised system.
The challenge that comes with POS systems is that they are susceptible to Backoff Malware attacks as they are under the radar of third party vendors who are not entitled to implement security measures and negligent to be PCI Compliant. Inadequate or inefficient protection methods would make the POS system a rich source for malware authors to sneak into the compromised network and the retailer would indirectly be the breach victim suffering a huge downfall on brand reputation, loosing customer trust, facing heavy financial losses and more.
Retailers are always at risk with vulnerabilities enforced through third party vendors. Hence the retailers are to do a proper research, understand if the third party payment authority is PCI compliant following the standards and check if the concerned third party vendor has healthy security infrastructure at bay to fight away unauthorized access. The vendor should also be able to understand that he holds responsibility for the customer details and also liable to prevent hackers from accessing the retail organization’s details.
Hence an effective security strategy intact would entitle the retailers to combat threats..
So lets go by the saying – “Fraud and Deceit are anxious for your money. Be informed and Prudent” – John Andreas Widtsoe
