Staying ahead of the hacker. Remaining on the cutting edge of data security and compliance.

Pundits say in data security, defenders should think like a hacker and protect like a defender and an attacker.  In other words, stay on the offense and defense constantly and all the time.  Make sure you take some basic steps.

1. Take an inventory of all your systems and devices in your network. If you don’t know what they are, you can be quite sure the hacker who is on the prowl will discover the un-patched, undectected but still in use system sooner or later.  That would be a major loophole to get in.
2. The same goes with applications.  Find those applications used on the devices and update them.  Remove unauthorized software.  Another bad opening.
3. Next comes password.  Do not use default passwords.  Follow the standards for secure configurations prescribed by the PCI Council.  In fact, do not use any default configurations. Hackers know them all.
4. Scan the systems regularly for vulnerabilities and promptly remediate them.  You will never discover what weaknesses lie across your network if they are never examined.
5. All of the above apply to both systems in scope and out-of-scope.

Retailers,  this can be a start.  Just some basic pointers for you to pay attention to.  Build on them to keep your environment more secure.  Contact Omega for help.