Retailers must focus on cyber security

Since the cyber attack on eBay last month retailers have been putting up their defences to keep hackers at bay from consumers' credit card and personal information. The breach of eBay followed the attack on high street giant Target last December, where similarly hackers were able to gain

passwords, telephone and address details from the retail website, not to mention vital credit card information.

Retailers are a huge target for hackers

Tony Caine, European vice-president of enterprise security at Hewlett-Packard told the FT: "Retailers are a huge target for hackers seeking credit card information, and new threats are resulting in more complex attacks.”

As a result retailers are coming together and forming alliances in order to avoid and deal with cyber fraud.

The UK, like many European countries, has introduced two-factor authentication with “chip and pin” credit cards, making it ever more difficult for malicious elements. These cards are not yet available in the USA.

In the UK, retailers that handle credit card data are subject to the payment card industry data security standard, which strongly recommends that retailers do not store any cardholder data themselves.

Despite the implementation of greater security, cyber risks have risen over the past year and retailers must address their security systems before consumer lose faith.

Furthermore, supporting new online security requires a more thoughtful approach to information management and an increasingly high calibre, dedicated, professional cyber workforce.

Whilst the need for a bright, dedicated, and quick-thinking cyber security workforce is growing, the number of skilled candidates is not. Recent statistics from Microsoft suggest that the IT industry will create 78,000 jobs in the UK in the next four years but research from the government body e-Skills confirms a 50 percent decline in young UK residents entering IT careers during the last five.

Image: Cyber Security