69% of cloud providers place responsibility for security with customers, only 35% of customers think they are responsible for security. Houston, we have a problem.
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Small merchants have increasingly become targets for hackers. Small business is the lifeblood of our economy so it should be no surprise that these companies process and store significant amounts of sensitive customer data such as credit card information. These merchants are a virtual treasure trove for hackers because of the relative ease that is required for cybercriminals to steal that data.
That’s a polite and roundabout way of saying that most small businesses that deal with confidential customer information are simply not very secure. They don’t have basic controls in place such as restricting employee access to sensitive information, installing firewalls, using current anti-virus programs or keeping other systems and programs secure and up-to-date. This is a very serious problem that costs merchants, credit card companies and, ultimately, customers millions of dollars each year.
When taken in isolation, any one of these basic controls don’t seem like they would make a big difference in the grand scheme of securing your business. The reality though, is that all it takes is for a hacker to find one small vulnerability to penetrate your network and gain unrestricted access to valuable information. It could be as simple as out-of-date antivirus definitions that don’t catch an email that contains malware (short for malicious software)and you or one of your employees clicks on it. There are a million ways hackers can breach your network, and most of them can be prevented with a simple, easy and low cost network security scan.
The effects of a data breach can be enormous and a breach that leads to the exploitation of customer data would most likely spell the end of any small business unlucky enough to be hacked. In fact, I would venture to say most small business owners don’t really understand their legal exposure as it relates to a data breach of customer credit card data on their network. Merchants are subject to fines should a breach event occur on their network. If cardholder data you are responsible for is compromised legal liabilities can include:
Potential fines of up to $500,000
All fraud losses incurred from the use of the compromised account numbers from the date of compromise forward.
Cost of re-issuing cards associated with the compromise
Cost of any additional fraud prevention/detection activities required by the card associations (i.e. a forensic audit) or costs incurred by credit card issuers associated with the compromise (i.e. additional monitoring of system for fraudulent activity)
The good news is that most of these data breaches and subsequent penalties can be prevented. A network security scan will check all devices on your network to identify vulnerabilities in operating systems and applications that could be exploited by hackers to gain access to your company's private network. Not all merchants are required to conduct a network security scan as part of their compliance efforts or in some cases need only to “check the box” on the form to attest that they did, but this is a mistake.
Don’t put yourself or your business at risk. Even if you are not required to, a small upfront investment to scan your network could literally save your business. Don’t just check the “network scan” box!
Been reading the recent news articles about the FTC's push for voluntary support for their Privacy Bill of rights? Listen to Episode 29 of our SecuritySlice podcast and hear Tim 'TK' Keanini, Lamar Bailey and Tim Erlin discuss the limitations of the FTC's current proposal and discuss their thoughts on options that would be better for consumers.
Cyber crime is more than twice as common at financial services companies -- no surprise there. I did find it surprising that 29% of financial services survey respondents said they hadn't received security training
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