Data Breaches In Retail: Billions Spent Annually On Cybersecurity, But The Front Door Is Still Wide Open

Retail continues to experience a greater number of data breaches, with the main cause being compromised user IDs and passwords. However, only 4% of cybersecurity budgets are being spent on securing credentials. Organizations are mistakenly focusing spending on firewalls and intrusion detection while leaving the front door wide open to cyber criminals by not addressing the primary means of intrusion, compromised credentials.

This white paper builds the case for protecting against data breaches by investing in (focusing on) stronger management of user credentials. We explain why the POS is a vulnerable entry point and the preferred target of cyber criminals. Best practices to reduce data breach risks are reviewed, including effectively managing passwords, using two-factor authentication in the back office and how to secure remote vendor access, the cause of some of the largest retail breaches to date.

As a solution, this paper proposes closing the front door by using fingerprint biometrics at the POS and a back office credential management solution to secure the back door against data breaches.