INTRODUCTION – Point of Sale Breach
This module will explore the rather complex domain of Point-of-Sale (POS) breaches-their types effect on organizational security and integrity. The case studies will allow participants to internally appreciate how such breaches could impact finances or harm reputation.
This module provides really critical findings with cybersecurity for individuals to develop proactive measures for reduction of risks and misappropriation of organizational assets in further strides towards digital exploitation.
Objectives:
- Enumerate the cybersecurity measures taken against attacks including those evidenced in breaches such as Target and Home Depot.
- Describe the price and the damage caused by the Home Depot POS breach.
- Spot the vulnerabilities that were exploited during the Home Depot POS breach.
- Summarize the calendar of events for the Home Depot POS breach.
- List best practices for preventing POS breaches.
- Explain the fate of stolen information during a breach of POS.
- Identify types of POS malware.
- Describe how malware infects POS devices.
- Describe POS systems and security standards they follow.
- What is the objective of Point-of-Sale (POS) breach?
INTRODUCTION TO POINT OF SALE ATTACKS KNOWLEDGE CHECK
1. True or False. There are more successful PoS attacks made against large online retailers than there are against small to medium sized brick-and-mortar businesses.
- True
- False (CORRECT)
2. Which is the standard regulating credit card transactions and processing?
- PCI-DSS (CORRECT)
- Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX)
- GDPR
- NIST SP-800
3. Which three (3) of these are PCI-DSS requirements for any company handling, processing or transmitting credit card data? (Select 3)
- Cardholder data may not reside on local PoS devices for more than 48 hours
- Protect stored cardholder data (CORRECT)
- Install and maintain a firewall configuration to protect cardholder data (CORRECT)
- Do not use vendor-supplied defaults for system passwords and other security parameters (CORRECT)
Partially correct!
4. True or False. A study conducted by the Ingenico Group found that credit card transactions were sufficiently secure as long as all participants were in strict compliance with PCI-DSS standards.
- True
- False (CORRECT)
5. What are the two (2) most common operating systems for PoS devices? (Select 2)
- Windows (CORRECT)
- Mac i/OS
- Linux (CORRECT)
- POSOS
Partially correct!
6. If your credit card is stolen from a PoS system, what is the first thing the thief is likely to do with your card data?
- Use it as part of a larger identity theft scheme
- Use it to buy merchandise
- Sell it to a carder
- Sell it to a distributor (CORRECT)
7. PCI-DSS can best be described how?
- A voluntary payment card industry data security standard (CORRECT)
- A provision of the European GDPR that covers payment card data privacy regulations
- A financial regulation in the United States covering the payment card industry that replaced Sarbanes-Oxley
- A financial regulation in the United States that supplements Sarbanes-Oxley with missing provisions covering the payment card industry
POINT OF SALE BREACH GRADED ASSESSMENT
1. Which group suffers from the most PoS attacks?
- Restaurants and small retail stores. (CORRECT)
- Large online retailers like Amazon.com
- Social media companies like Facebook and Instagram.
- Government agencies.
2. Which three (3) of these control processes are included in the PCI-DSS standard? (Select 3)
- Build and maintain a secure network and systems (CORRECT)
- Maintain a vulnerability management program (CORRECT)
- Protect cardholder data (CORRECT)
- Require use of multi-factor authentication for new card holders
Partially correct!
3. Which three (3) of these are PCI-DSS requirements for any company handling, processing or transmitting credit card data? (Select 3)
- Use and regularly update antivirus software (CORRECT)
- All employees with direct access to cardholder data must be bonded
- Encrypt transmission of cardholder data across open, public networks (CORRECT)
- Develop and maintain secure systems and applications (CORRECT)
Partially correct!
4. Which three (3) additional requirements did the Ingenico Group recommend be used to enhance credit card transactions above and beyond the requirements found in PCI-DSS? (Select 3)
- Mobile Device Management (MDM) (CORRECT)
- Employee Education (CORRECT)
- Tokenization (CORRECT)
- Discontinue use of magnetic strip readers and cards
Partially correct!
5. When is credit card data most vulnerable to PoS malware?
- While stored on the PoS device hard drive
- While in RAM (CORRECT)
- After the card data has been received by the credit card processor
- While in transit between the PoS device and the credit card processing center
6. Which scenario best describes how a stolen credit card number is used to enrich the thief?
- Credit card thieves use stolen credit cards to buy merchandise that is then returned to the store in exchange for store credit that is sold at a discount for profit
- Credit card thieves resell stolen card numbers to dark web companies that use call-center style operations to purchase goods on behalf of customers who pay for them at discounted rates using real credit cards
- Credit card thieves sell stolen credit cards directly to carders using weekly dark web auctions. The carders then encode credit card blanks with the stolen numbers and resell the cards
- Stolen credit card numbers are sold to brokers who resell them to carders who use them to buy prepaid credit cards that are then used to buy gift cards that will be used to buy merchandise for resale (CORRECT)
CONCLUSION – Point of Sale Breach
To sum up, learning about Point of Sale breaches and how they impact organizations through case studies is one of the greatest learning experiences. Participants better understand through real-life incidents the magnitude of impact such security vulnerabilities yield and the subsequent wide-ranging potential consequences.
With such knowledge, individuals become more prepared to develop robust cybersecurity restraining against unwanted perils to their operations in a dynamic digital world. Doing so by continuous monitoring and proactive strategies empowers businesses to confidently navigate the complexities of today’s challenges in cybersecurity.