Online and in-store retailers are already making the holiday season bright but at what cost? E-skimming, a process where hackers insert malicious code onto a website in order to collect financial card details or personal information, is a major threat this time of time. According to an NBC article, last year, 41.4 million Americans shopped online between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, all of whom are potential hacking targets for cybercriminals.
Many hacking attempts start with phishing or third-party vendors. These might be in the form of an email that tricks an employee into logging into their company’s website. Using this information, hackers are able to place malicious codes on the website that collects any and all credit card information that is processed on that site.
The risk to customers is so high, that in October, the start of the holiday season for most retailers, the Federal Bureau of Investigation sent out a warning out to small and medium-sized businesses who are potential targets this time of year. They advised companies to update and patch all their systems, make sure their anti-virus and anti-malware software is updated, default login information is changed, educate employees about safe cyber practices and segregate and segment network systems to make it more difficult for hackers to get from one site to the next.
The scariest part of e-skimming is that most businesses can’t tell that it is an issue until they have to deal with the consequences.
Here are six steps your business can take to reduce your company’s risk of e-skimming:
- Updates payment software regularly
- Complete patches from payment vendors
- Check code integrity frequently
- Update anti-virus software
- Be compliant in PCI DSS
- Monitor and analyze web logs
E-skimming can affect your business if you accept payments for goods and services on your site.
At MDL Technology, your company’s security is our number one concern. By offering services such as 24/7 support, network monitoring, offsite data backups, auditing and compliance and more we help ensure that you don’t need to stress about private information becoming public. Learn more about the services we offer by visiting our website.
