Heads up: It’s a proven way to save time and paper when it comes to paying your suppliers, but could it actually be leaving the door open for hackers in the process?
We’re talking about e-payments.
More and more manufacturers have begun to make the transition into paying their suppliers online. Where companies go, people looking for a quick and easy pay day will tend to follow.
That’s something Target just found out the hard way. It wasn’t all that long ago when the retailer was making headlines after a massive security breach allowed hackers to get their hands on the personal information of a dizzying total of 110 million customers.
Now, it looks like the source of that painful attack was most likely Target’s A/P department. More specifically: a vendor portal Target used to pay Fazio Mechanical Services, Inc.
Fazio is a heating and refrigeration contractor which does work for Target’s retail locations.
It turns out that Fazio’s IT security may not have been exactly up to snuff. An investigation turned up the fact the company was using a free version of an anti-malware program to keep its systems safe.
And in this case, the company got what it paid for.
The highly-skilled hackers responsible most likely had no trouble by-passing that flimsy bit of security. Once they were in to Fazio’s system, they were able to find the codes to access Target’s and away they – and customers’ personal info - went.
Does this mean e-payments aren’t worth the risk? After all, if a giant like Target can fall victim to this kind of attack, couldn’t anyone?
Sure, there will always be the threat of hackers, but the upside of e-payments is still gigantic for both you and your vendors.
It’s just a matter of making sure they’re as committed to security as you are.
Make it a point to regularly talk to vendors about what they’re doing in the way of IT security.
If you can, you may even want to put a representative from your IT team in touch with one of theirs. That way, the two can talk shop and try to close up any loopholes that a clever hacker might be able to find and take advantage of.
What sorts of things do you do to keep e-payments secure?
Be sure to share some of your insights in the comments section below.
