Without a Safety (Inter)Net
The recent TJX security breach affecting 46.5 million customers (see our earlier post on the TJX Secuirty breach) has helped make it clear just how fragile retail security can be. RIS News quotes Greg Buzek, president of IHL Consulting, as saying that “most retailers’ IT systems are integrated today, it is very difficult to lock down every vulnerability. There are simply too many access points.” Buzek claims that most deliberate, professional, online security attacks are launched from former Soviet republics—which have no extradition treaties with the U.S., so the U.S. has no legal recourse to stop them.
Deliberate attacks are not the only security problem, of course. It seems like every week there’s news of another security breach or flaw. Stories about lost or stolen computers, hard drives, and compact discs carrying sensitive personal data seem to surface every week. Ultimately, it’s merchants who carry most of the liability and pay most of the costs for any and all of these problems. What can you do to protect yourself and your customers?
–
F. Curtis Barry & Co., an operations and fulfillment consulting firm, uses best practices to recommend and implement order management systems for multichannel businesses.