ORGANIZATIONS PROTECTING AGAINST CYBER-CRIME - A Roundtable Discussion -
A must read!
 

Retailers have come to terms with the threat of cyber-attacks that result in data breaches and have put preventative measures in place to secure their information. However, is enough being done to protect company data?

On August 25, Retail Council of Canada’s (RCC) national industry publication, Canadian Retailer, and one of the association’s valued partners, TYCO Integrated Security, assembled some of the brightest professionals in the retail world who are currently dealing with the issue of data protection. Click here to read the discussion.

The Roundtable was held in order to start dialogue that speaks to the need for identifying the data that may be at risk, which includes intellectual property, personal information of individuals associated with the organization, and credit information of customers. All are targets of the cyber-criminal, and the group discussed the preventative measures which can help mitigate breaches.

But there are rules that organizations ought to be following including PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act) which was established to guide organizations concerning ways to protect information, and PCI Compliance, the payment card industries rules, which advises organizations concerning ways to handle credit information.
 

So how are the hackers still getting in with all of these rules in place?

Much discussion took place, but the bottom line is that the answer may lie beyond compliance. And to that degree, the methodology behind enterprise risk management would be the first step in addressing an organization’s vulnerability. Once all of the risks are identified, the mitigation strategy is critical, resources available to implement preventative measure crucial, and buy in from the top essential.

The group was also joined by a cyber-crime expert from KPMG who talked about the web, but not just any web—the deep web, which lies beneath the surface of every day common Internet use, and the one where the organized criminals openly discuss targets, and buy and sell stolen information.

The conversation was a fruitful one and provoked thought among its participants. I hope you and your teams find the dialogue equally interesting and I’ll look forward to hearing your feedback about the topics discussed. Click here to read the whole discussion.

Sincerely,
Stephen O’Keefe
Retail Council of Canada