Is Your System Secure?

It is important to make yourstore secure from intruders.  As you knowas a store operator, you are required to follow the PCI guideline to protectthe personal data of your customers.  Oneof the many things that you have to do is to make sure that your POS softwareand hardware is updated to the level that is compliant.  This is probably the most obvious step towardthe compliancy.  However, there areseveral other areas that you need to address.

If you have an Internet connection, you are vulnerable toInternet intrusions.  The intrusion couldcome in many forms such as virus, spyware, etc. There are also more active ways that a hacker can gain access to yourcomputer.  The challenge is to stay aheadof these intrusions and it’s a never ending process. 

To secure your network, you need to have hardware andsoftware that are designed to limit access to and from your store.  A Firewall is a solution to protect yoursystem. A Firewall could be a hardware solution or software solution orboth. 

Even with all the technology to protect your system, thebest practice is to limit the Web access to business related traffic only.  Just because you use Windows PCs, it doesn’tmean you should use them like the Windows PCs you have at home.  A good rule of thumb is to “Let your POSsystem function as they are designed – to run your POS system.”

As the technology advances, so do the ways that hackers willcome up with to try to steal valuable information.  This is a never ending battle and you need tokeep up with hardware and software updates that are designed to stay ahead ofthe crooks.   As a POS systems provider,STCR is here to provide ever changing solutions to help you stay up todate.  If you have question on whetheryour network is secure or if your POS software is up to date, please don’thesitate to contact us at (607) 757-0181.