Cybersecurity during the holidays is a topic that is frequently overlooked in the excitement of preparing and traveling. But it’s also one of the most straightforward tasks on your to-do list, despite being one of the most crucial. We’ll share our best advice with you so that you can enjoy a beverage while protecting your gadgets and data while enjoying the most “wonderful time of the year” as the song goes.

  1. Be still on the lookout during the holidays.

Avoid getting sidetracked during busy times. When hackers know that your attention is on seasonal income and customer interaction in the retail industry, they specifically target U.S. holidays. Maintain visibility during the holidays, schedule routine vulnerability checks, encourage every one of your staff to follow best practices for cybersecurity, and keep critical servers and systems patched.

  1. Be certain that your retail company has a cellular failover strategy.

In point-of-sale (POS) systems, the internet connection can drop for causes that are out of your control. To prevent losing revenue, you must literally avoid downtime at all costs. 99.99% uptime is made possible by adding an automatic cellular failover solution.

  1. Control how well your internet works.

Your internet service provider’s infrastructure can be heavily taxed during a busy shopping season. Making ensuring that traffic is appropriately divided, and the POS payments traffic is prioritized is an excellent strategy to combat erratic network performance.

  1. You’re good to go because your POS system complies with PCI DSS, right? Not always.

The very minimum required for transaction security and customer data protection is PCI compliance. You might wish to update your incident response plan and step-up network monitoring at your retail locations throughout the holiday season.

  1. To find worthwhile targets, consider yourself a hacker.

Threat actors want to utilize your login information or resell your sensitive data because they are financially incentivized to do so. Credit card information, databases for loyalty programs, inventories of gift cards, and login information for other assets or supply-chain partners are examples of desirable targets. SIEM will help you continuously monitor and alert for identifying suspicious activity.

  1. Defend the e-commerce and website assets you own.

Business-critical is the website uptime of your organization’s e-commerce platform. The top threat source for the retail industry right now is web applications. You must recognize and thwart these expensive attacks. We advise you to disable unused accounts and web plug-ins, automate data backups, and steer clear of vendor default settings, which hackers are aware of and will use first.

  1. Prevent password and login compromise.

The key corporate websites and systems are accessible through your privileged accounts, such as system admin credentials and IT vendor accounts. impose “least privilege” and role-based access rules, require secure passwords, and disable logins for long-gone former workers and contractors. Don’t make it simple for hackers to purchase and sell the logins for your company on shady forums.

There is no time like the present to take a moment to make sure you are taking all reasonable precautions to prevent your information from falling into the hands of cybercriminals. CYB3R- X is always on guard when it comes to securing your most precious security while you are enjoying your deserved vacation during the holidays. You can talk to us and be at ease during the upcoming season.