How Retailers Can Deter POS Attacks
retailciooutlook

How Retailers Can Deter POS Attacks

By: Retail CIO Outlook | Wednesday, January 06, 2021

As an industry that spends heavily on the advertisement and encourages word-of-mouth to create trust, retailers need to maintain the hard-won trust by maintaining the security of consumer and financial data gathered at any POS terminal.

FREMONT, CA: It must be known to retailers of all sizes to accept the harsh reality that antivirus software cannot defend against the range of malware used by hackers today. From file-less ransomware to zero-day assaults, hackers have used sophisticated techniques to quickly bypass antivirus protection technologies and exploit Point of Sale (POS) mechanisms to access sensitive credit card details. The protection initiatives below will help retailers secure their POS networks and protect their consumers from credit card fraud.

Gain Full Prominence

Many compliance practitioners in the retail sector have no centralized visibility in the globally dispersed POS device processes. Visibility helps security operators recognize functions expected to operate on any POS device while shutting down processes that could be unwanted or suspect. Real-time insight allows compliance departments to identify, warn, and avoid unwanted and potentially unsafe operations.

Lockdown the POS Method

Security teams can effectively lock POS networks using code that whitelists approved processes—and identifies and shuts down any other method before execution. Enabling process lockout can protect POS systems, particularly unpatched and legacy systems, from zero-day threats, file-less malware, ransomware, Return-Oriented Programming (ROP), Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), Remote Access Trojan (RAT), and many other types of malware.

Execute Suitable Solutions

Retail workers at the counter keep shifting, and consumers want the payment process to be swift on any single transaction. Having these market specifications in mind, any security system a business implements should be light enough to run without disrupting the enterprise. It must be invisible to the end-user. This feature will reduce any extra expenses borne by the workers in teaching cyber hygiene and ensuring that billing takes place smoothly.

According to one study, 61 percent of retailers suffered cyber attacks in the past year, with an estimated cost of 1.9 million dollars leading to disruptions to daily operations. While the immediate monetary effect of the infringement is significant, the retail sector should also recognize the loss of brand image and consumer loyalty in the event of the breach. As an industry that spends heavily on the advertisement and encourages word-of-mouth to create trust, retailers need to maintain the hard-won trust by maintaining the security of consumer and financial data gathered at any POS terminal.

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