Help Net Security: Five Crucial Ways to Help Keep a System Safe From Harm

Last week, our Chief Security Officer Rush Taggart, was featured on online security news outlet Help Net Security, as a contributor to the “Expert Corner.” There, he shared a few of his best tips for helping to keep a network safe from harm (AKA data breaches).

Attempted data breaches occur everyday and unfortunately for the victims, many are “successful,” which is why it’s important to understand the steps that can be taken to reduce the chances of a breach having an impact on your business or organization. We don’t want to give too much away, because the full article is well-worth the read, but to get you started, we’ve included the highlights below:

1. DON'T KEEP DATA AROUND. The over-collection of data can clog a system and even lead losing track of information.

2. ARCHIVE THE IMPORTANT STUFF. You really only need to keep the day-to-day stuff around and put away the older data that can be pulled only when needed.

3. SEGMENT YOUR NETWORK. Make sure your network’s data is isolated and can only be accessed by a few staff members.

4. SANITIZE SENSITIVE DATA WITH TOKENS. Protect sensitive data with tokenization so in the event that your system is hacked, the information will be useless to the hacker.

5. PUT SOMEONE IN CHARGE. Appoint a manager or team to oversee the security plan in place and assess when updates are needed.

Get the rest here! Five Crucial Ways to Help Keep A System Safe From Harm

Rush has played an integral part in the development of CardConnect’s payment processing and security solutions, building and rebuilding applications in order to add significant user functionality and portability. In 2014, CardConnect was awarded two patents related to payment security that were a direct result of Taggart’s work. He also developed the CardPointe Terminal, which our small to medium sized business customers know and love, that provides a PCI-validated P2PE solution that is also EMV-ready.