by Omega | Sep 22, 2017 | Cyber Security, Data Breach, Data Security, Multiple factors of authentication, New Technology, Online Cloud Security, Password Security, PCI DSS 3.2
Information security courses teach data security professionals to incorporate multiple layers of security to secure their systems. This is the right advice. A four foot fence might keep some criminals out, but an athlete would have no problem jumping the fence. The...
by Omega | Sep 21, 2017 | Cyber Security, Data Breach, Data Security, Multiple factors of authentication, New Technology, Password Security, Two-factor authentication
Every day, I have the opportunity to engage with businesses around the country and understand how they are preparing to withstand today’s onslaught of cyberattacks. The CIOs and IT Directors I’ve spoken to recently are realizing that their...
by Omega | Sep 13, 2017 | New Technology, News
As coastal areas in the United States withstand recent hurricanes like Harvey and Irma, we are reminded of the critical role that convenience stores play in our communities. Today more than ever, households and individuals look to convenience stores as a hub of...
by Omega | Aug 2, 2017 | Cyber Security, Data Breach, Data Security, Skimming
The 2016 Verizon Data Breach reported that Payment card skimmer frauds remain one of the most lucrative and easy to pull off crimes, and, that discovery of breaches was still at 99% from external sources. How can you reduce the risk of skimmers in your store...
by Omega | May 2, 2017 | Risk Assessment
Risk assessment and risk management (PCI compliance requirements 10.6.2 and 10.6.3) are 2 controls usually shoved off to the end of a Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) audit or Self–Assessment questionnaire (SAQ) process. Even as late as 2015, organizations considered...
by Omega | Mar 31, 2017 | Cyber Security, Data Breach, Social Media
Hackers tend to be extra active on April 1st. So, things you’d watch out for are: Email attachments from friends, contacts, colleagues… basically everyone. Hackers like this simple channel. Email links within the mail. Pay close attention to the URL on the links....
by Omega | Mar 30, 2017 | Distributed Denial of Service
A Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack refers to flooding of a server with junk requests until it fails to respond to legitimate ones. Similar to spam, which costs pennies to send millions of messages, DDOS attacks are cheap to launch, but the impact on...
by Omega | Mar 26, 2017 | Data Breach, Data Security, Skimming
Gas Pump Skimmers: Have you noticed a red tape/seal similar to the one in this picture at your gas station pumps? This is a simple sticker across the top of the card reader covering a key slot. If the sticker is torn, it’s a warning to users and indicates an...
by Omega | Mar 24, 2017 | Data Breach, Data Security, PCI DSS 3.2
In late 2015 the FTC concluded its lawsuit with Wyndham settling the litigation pertaining to whether their data security policies led to data breaches. The settlement shows that the FTC analysis of whether data protection efforts are reasonable will be dependent on a...
by Omega | Mar 12, 2017 | PCI, PCI DSS, PCI DSS 3.2
We are now well into the year and spring is almost here. The nagging PCI compliance pain is starting to reappear. So, retailers: Where would you begin? Here’s a list of things that can help you check off some important milestones, but you need to get cracking...
