As a retail business, your cybersecurity concerns are likely to have changed over the last few years. The seismic shift in online shopping may have left you wondering if you need to plan for a transition to the next normal.
According to the Australia Post Group, the forecasted increase in consumer spending for 2020 was 12%. Its 2020 eCommerce Industry Report reports that this increase was hit in March 2020, alone.
This kind of growth in the age of the omnichannel customer experience requires retail cybersecurity to take a helicopter view of its structures and strategies. You need an assortment of solutions that can support POS, cloud-based apps, distributed networking software, customer mobile devices, and the new tech in your business.
That said, it’s difficult to guarantee optimum levels of protection in a vacuum.
For your retail cybersecurity structure to be effective, it must support perfect integration across your solutions. It must provide you with a clear view of threats while helping you manage security skill shortages and the impact of security on network performance.
So, how can you provide your consumers with an enhanced omnichannel customer experience while ensuring more powerful cybersecurity for an industry in transition?
Incorporate an end-point security solution for your complex retail environment
Your primary challenge in designing an effective retail cybersecurity structure may be addressing all the complexities of the corporate network. This needs to be done while ensuring reliable connectivity for your POS software, email, and web-facing apps.
You may also have multiple POS applications in geographically diverse locations containing a wealth of sensitive customer financial data. One thing you can do to protect these systems is to use an endpoint security solution, which will allow your in-house or outsourced IT staff to discover, monitor, and assess endpoint risks in real-time.
To minimise the impact of a breach, segment end-points across your network as this can help you quarantine compromised systems.
Integrate a next-generation firewall for your SD-WAN technology
You may already be relying on SD-WAN technology to provide high-speed connectivity to your POS systems and other applications. SD-WAN solutions, however, don’t come with powerful security.
To remedy this, integrate a next-generation firewall and secure your business infrastructure so that it prioritises speed as well as security. This approach can also minimise the total cost of ownership by holding upfront acquisitions costs, ongoing fees, labour for installation, maintenance, and upkeep.
Take a new approach to security for your multi-cloud environment
You are aware that by nature, cloud-based applications are challenging to secure. What’s more, is that traditional security measures do not account for security for cloud-based applications because they run on hardware located outside the corporate data centre.
Your new cloud security solution, therefore, needs to be able to break down silos between the different clouds your business relies on. This will then support your IT team with:
- Clear visibility and an analysis of threats
- Mitigation efforts across all business applications
Incorporate a multilayered approach to email and web application security
Choose a multilayered approach to bolster website, email, and web application security to ensure uninterrupted uptime. In this process, remember to incorporate a solution that is proven to protect your operations against the Open Web Application Security Project.
At the same time, make sure you integrate a web application firewall with AI capabilities. This will help you detect more advanced threats that your security architecture is not otherwise designed to flag.
Enjoy successful retail operations with a more powerful security structure
As your retail network evolves, ensure integrated security that covers all aspects of your retail digital transformation. This can even support putting a stop to the increasing levels of credit card fraud.
Ensure that the solutions that secure your business’ network devices, from edge to endpoints and to cloud, share threat intelligence. Make sure they also provide visibility into security, continuous risk assessment, and built-in analytics to accelerate threat response.
Choose smart solutions that can improve your security infrastructure and make it more effective.
