Without PCI-Compliant POS Scanning Merchants Can Expect More Target-Style Hacking

The massive Target breach that took place over the holiday shopping season was apparently much larger than the corporation initially thought. The U.S. company issued a statement last Friday that said hackers also made off with the personal information of at least 70 million customers, including names, mailing addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses. Previously, they believed hackers had stole data from 40 million credit and debit cards. They think that the two sets of numbers are likely to overlap but experts are unsure. This could put the number of customers affected over 100 million. Some customers who had not shopped in Target stores between November 27th and December 15th, had their information stolen from a database. Millions of angry customers have taken to social media to express frustration to the corporation for what many perceive as their lax security practices.

Trust Guard, a company that specializes in POS Scanning, says that due to their recent success with Target, hackers will doggedly increase their efforts and continue their attempts to hi-jack POS Terminals to steal client information. Trust Guard is urging merchants to increase their security with POS scans to stop hackers from getting into their systems in the first place. 

PCI Compliant POS scanning is required by credit card companies. A PCI scan checks terminals for thousands of vulnerabilities by scanning both web applications and networks remotely and non-intrusively based on the IP address provided. Scans look for threats to operating systems, services and utilities used for financial or other sensitive transactions. A PCI- compliant scan is performed with an advanced scanning engine that will generate a detailed report listing any server and network vulnerabilities. Then the merchant can properly resolve the security risks, helping to protect their system from Hackers, and Malware.

“Small stores are particularly susceptible because they often lack the security that larger corporations have in place, though Target is a prime example that size doesn’t matter. This is why merchants need PCI-compliant POS Scanning. It’s so cheap and effective there is no excuse to not have it. Hackers will always work hard to find new ways to get into a system, either through a vulnerability online or through point-of-sale terminals. Cleanup is a disaster for everyone involved, it’s a lot easier to prevent a hack than to fix the aftermath of one,” said Dave Brandley, co-founder, Trust Guard. 

The Target breach has resulted in a huge drop in sales for the nations 3rd largest retailer. “Unfortunately this isn’t going to be the last time. You owe it to yourself and your clients to get all of your card terminals scanned on a regular basis, starting today,” said Brandley.