Retail Technologies for QuickSell Commerce, 2000 and Headquarters Point of Sale POS Solutions

Your POS system will be collecting very valuable data that will become critical to your operation. If a malicious attacker were to hack your system and wipe out your data files, it could be a very costly affair. Your data could also be very valuable to competitors if they could get their hands on it. How do your protect your data? Computer security is of huge importance to all business, but large corporations and agencies are actually more vulnerable than you probably are. It is important to these types of organizations that they allow portholes into their systems for outside access. They have World Wide Web Servers that are connected to in house databases and they have employees that must be able to access data remotely. Putting the tools in place for these functions also opens doors for hackers.

You are probably in a better position then the big-boys to protect your valuable data. But don’t be lulled into thinking no one would want to hack your system. Most hackers are opportunistic; they aren’t necessarily targeting anyone, they are just looking for open doors anywhere they can get into. If you have an Internet connection into your business (and for reasons I’ll address in a later article, I believe you should), and/or you are using porthole software like PCAnywhere to access your system remotely, than you need to put some simple defense mechanisms in place to protect your data from intruders.

Some are more vulnerable than others. Businesses that have an Internet connection that is full time, like DSL, ISDN or Cable connections are at a much higher risk than those using dial-up connections. In order for a hacker to find you, even by accident, they must discover your Internet Protocol (IP) address. Dial-up connections provide you with a new IP address every time you log on. With full time connections you are generally issued a "static" IP that doesn’t change, at least not frequently. It’s these static addresses that are most vulnerable. For instance, a recent survey estimated that the average new DSL connection has a hack attempt within the first 12 hours of operation! I can tell you from my experience, that my own static address gets a hack attempt on an average of three times a day. But note these are only attempts. They are not successful.

Your businesses computer system can be very well locked down for very little additional investment. Retail Technologies can help you configure a very secure network that will allow you to safely use a full time Internet connection and remote access. If you are interested in securing your system, give us a call!