A Cloud Security Blanket For Retail Operators
- Published in Executive ViewPoints
- Written by Joseph Harding, Windstream
By now, retail operators are very familiar with the reasons for moving their networks to the cloud: flexibility, scalability, centralized management capability, consistency of commerce experience and cost, to name a few. They also likely are well aware of the issues that can accompany such a move, none of which is more concerning than that of network and data security. Given the U.S retail sector’s growing dependence on the cloud, along with that sector’s apparent vulnerability to data breaches, the concerns about security are justified. Half of U.S. retailers were breached in the past year, well above the 27% global average for retailers, according to a recent report from Thales eSecurity. What’s more, U.S. retailers lead the world in security breaches; three-quarters of them have been breached at least once.