News

Cybercriminals targeting retail industry

News on the state of cybersecurity is not encouraging. Data breaches continue to be reported across the globe and in multiple sectors, according to Lexology contributor Ozzie Fonseca. Government agencies, financial institutions and massive corporations have all fallen victim to penetrating cyberattacks.

According to KPMG's Data Loss Barometer, data loss occurrences have risen 40 percent since 2011. The number of external threats has doubled, making hackers the number one cause of breaches.

Retailers have been hit especially hard by cyberthreats. Trustwave's 2013 Global Security Report discovered that incidents within the retail industry accounted for 45 percent of all cybercrime investigations, making it the most commonly targeted sector.

Customer records including credit card data and personal information represented the overwhelming majority of these attacks. According to ZDNet's analysis of the report, customer information accounted for 96 percent of the targeted data.

Protecting credit card information and other customer data is essential for maintaining industry credibility and public trust. When processing payment transactions online, companies should ensure that sensitive financial information is being encrypted while in transit. Using tools such as SSL certificates, retailers can provide an extra layer of security between critical data and cybercriminals.

Retailers have become a favorite target for cyberthieves. Protect data in transit with an SSL certificate.

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