An Underappreciated Threat: The Bored Employee
Written by Evan SchumanMarch 4th, 2010
Retail IT is generally on the lookout for cyberthief intruders trying to break into sensitive systems. The disgruntled former employee is another well-known trouble spot, as are the greedy and potentially dishonest current employees who simply exceed access authorization. But one of the most dangerous and often overlooked threats is the bored and honest employee, frequently younger and left in a very monotonous environment with little to no supervision.
Think video store, convenience chain, 24-hour restaurant and gas station. Hacking away out of boredom is a very different profile from someone looking to harm the chain or even steal something to sell later.
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Our Comment SPAM system is getting very aggressive these days and has been blocking legitimate comments. If you post a comment and don't see it appear within 2 hours or so, can you please send a heads-up to customer-service@storefrontbacktalk.com? Ideally, please include the time you posted the comment. That will allow us to try and hunt for it. Thanks! P.S. We're working on fixing the system, but we don't want to lose any valuable comments in the meantime.
-Christine
March 5th, 2010 at 5:22 pm
I, too, caught that article. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I read it. The message for retail CIOs everywhere – and especially franchise operations – is that some pretty weak (i.e., junk) payment systems out there. You don’t want to be buying from the low priced provider; it will be too expensive. In fact, you don’t want to be buying services or payment apps that aren’t on the list of approved service providers (Visa website) or PA-DSS list (PCI Council website).
My first reaction was that the vendor should be taken to the PCI woodshed (or worse), and the store owner who bought the POS system with him. But on reflection, maybe we should reserve some blame for those bank acquirers and processors who have thus far failed miserably to get the word out to their small/medium merchants that they are at risk and that PCI really does apply to them, too. I see too much of this every day.
Looks like it’s going to be a pretty crowded woodshed.