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The vulnerability remained even after hiring a third-party security firm, which is something of concern to any hotel brands seeking to deploy additional security measures and analysis by third parties.

The thieves pretty much had everything they needed to make fraudulent purchases off guests' cards, and were able to access this for over 7 months.

The key to successfully managing the risks is to regularly monitor systems for any breaches and updating to the latest software.

But the Washington Post did some research that shows a rapid recent increase in fraud across the European continent.

White Lodging has been transitioning its POS to tokenization, which replaces sensitive information such as the card number with a non-meaningful token for transmission.

Even so, tokenization is an effective means of protecting sensitive transaction data.

EMV is the technology that is supposed to make credit card fraud more difficult.

Beyond that, insurance is available to protect against costs for data breaches — a solid measure of last resort that reduces the financial burden of a data intrusion.

The POS market is very strong and increasingly profitable with an estimated market value of nearly $15 trillion, up from less than $10 trillion only two years ago

Advantages of POS System

A POS system allows a business to effectively track sales, analyze profits/expenses in detail, maintain inventory, analyze sale trends, as well as allow you to manage employees and other store operations.

POS Software

Item Information

Costs/Expenses

Payment Methods

Stock/Inventory

Purchase/Transaction Records

Employee Time Clocking

Tax/Discount Calculation

POS management software can assist a store manager by constantly collecting analytic data to produce detailed spreadsheet reports, eliminating the need for manually inputting formulas and data into a spreadsheet program.

This helps business owners and managers to determine the best way to maximize sales, determine what inventory restocked, easily and accurately do taxes, and other vital operations.

Web-based POS systems often feature very focused and on-demand customer support than traditional POS software, with more frequent updates and an easier method of delivering them.

Another one of the benefits of POS systems is that POS software is accessible on a number of different platforms. Instead of limiting your transactions and operations to a terminal that is in the store, you can also utilize the POS concurrently with a remote cash register in another location, a computer, a tablet or even a smartphone can all access and work with the software.

Furthermore, a multi-use tablet with a removable external card-reader is an ideal substitute for an expensive card reader unit from a POS developer, which will only serve one basic purpose.

Studies show that Web-based small business POS is becoming more popular, as the increased efficiency and availability of mobile devices make the need for mobile access more crucial, and allow personal devices like smartphones and tablets to double as financial hardware.

The PCI Security Standards Council claims that since March, malicious virus-related reports are up 475%. The reason for the uptick is that cybercriminals are trying to take advantage of rapid changes to the payment-card data environment. In addition, 41% of small businesses have said they’ve suffered breaches costing more than $50,000 to fix.

Contactless payment is one of the big changes within the payment data environment. Several restaurant companies – from chains to independents – are offering it because it reduces customers' physical interaction with the restaurant's POS system. As part of this move, some businesses have eliminated credit-card PIN numbers.

Eliot says malicious email is usually the easiest way for cybercriminals to access your networks. The emails typically show up as urgent requests for sensitive information, often pretending to be from the Small Business Administration or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. When the intended victim types in his or her credentials and clicks on a specific link or downloads an attachment, criminals are in.

Anyone looking for easy-to-implement security tips can try these six to start. Reduce areas where payment-card data is stored. The best way to protect against a data breach is to avoid storing any card information at all. With many small operators offering curbside pickup and accepting payment over the phone instead of through face-to-face transactions, it’s important they train employees not to write down payment card details. Instead, have them enter numbers directly into a secure terminal. Use strong passwords. Using weak and default passwords is one of the leading causes of payment data breaches among businesses. Effective passwords must be strong and updated regularly. The most recent guidance is: the longer, the better. Think of it almost as a “passphrase” rather than a password. Use it in the form of a sentence, but mix in different characters within the phrase. It’s much harder to break a long passphrase than it is a short, complex password. Weak and vendor default passwords often result in small business data breaches. Also, don’t repeat your passwords. Update your software often. Criminals look for outdated software to exploit flaws in unpatched systems. Timely installations of security patches are crucial to minimizing the risk of a breach. Whenever updates are available, use them. They will improve performance and close out some of the vulnerabilities cybercriminals are searching for. Enable two-factor authentication. It's so important for restaurateurs, especially where their POS systems or any of their sensitive databases are concerned, to have two-factor or multi-factor authentication enabled. If an instance where credentials are stolen occurs, there will be a second layer of verification the operator can rely on to potentially reduce the chances that information will be breached. Segment your networks. If you are going to store payment data, make sure your POS system has its own separate, secure network. Do not store sensitive documents on public cloud services such as Google Docs or DropBox. If you’re going to store sensitive documents, house them in an encrypted, locked down location.   Be hyper-vigilant. Criminals are going to try to take advantage of this pandemic situation as much as possible. You can protect yourself by not giving out sensitive information, especially within unsolicited emails. Don’t click on links you’re not expecting and do everything in your power to protect all sensitive information.

In 2016, the Google Possum algorithm update caused Proximity of the Address to the Point of Interest to become more important.

In 2017, the Google Hawk algorithm update eliminated some of the local search filters that were put in place by the Google Possum update and focused on showing search results in the immediate area or in close proximity of the search query.

f your hotel lies outside that area, it will be seen as irrelevant to the search query and most likely will not rank for that phrase organically.

Hotels that are in rural or suburban areas, however, typically have fewer large attractions or points of interest nearby, so they may rank for attractions that are further away due to less competition in the area.

“Commitment to data protection” drives brand loyalty for 31% of consumers, a figure that increases to 40% for “Trustworthiness”[1].This backs up the findings from a 2018 survey by Salesforce, which found that consumers are more likely to stay loyal to a company, spend more money and recommend its services if they felt they could trust the organization with their data

Data breaches cause serious financial and reputational losses

Every type of organization could suffer a data breach if adequate data protection controls and systems aren’t in place.

Hotels concerned about their ability to adequately protect guests’ personal data should take immediate steps to address this. A common problem is the existence of multiple guest profiles across different platforms within the hotel tech stack, such as the PMS, CRM, RMS, POS, website, etc. Where these are not fully integrated, data has to be updated manually, which carries significant risks.

Key legislation explained

There are strict rules around how data can be obtained, stored, managed, and used.

Achieving data privacy compliance

large amount of valuable data held by hotel groups makes them a prime target for hackers and cyber thieves.

From compliance and reputational viewpoint, these functionalities are truly invaluable to hoteliers. However, IT can only do so much. Other key considerations for hoteliers include creating robust data privacy policies, providing clear guest communications, and training staff on data privacy processes. Taking a 360-degree approach is the best way for hotels to protect themselves and their guests from data breaches and the associated risks.

The Next Generation HRMS Market is Emerging

There are three real ways companies upgrade or replace their HRMS.

They do a "forklift" replacement.

They build a mid-level software layer to slowly replace the HRMS.

They build a middle-ware solution that co-exists with the HRMS.

First, the market for integrated talent management software has now taught all HR departments that data integration is far more valuable than we might have believed.  

Second, there is a tremendous amount of innovation now flowing into the HRMS market.

Management of all employee information.

that most effectively serves companies tracks:

An effective HRIS provides information on just about anything the company needs to track and analyze about employees, former employees, and applicants.

An HRIS system allows a business to streamline the administration of employee benefits

In support of a firm’s staffing efforts, many HRIS systems provide a sophisticated interface allowing its use by both internal employees, as well as external job applicants

Perhaps the biggest benefit that the use of an HRIS system adds to a business is its ability to create reports and presentations

A human resource information system (HRIS) is computer software employers use to manage the human resources functions of their organization.

In support of a firm’s staffing efforts, many HRIS systems provide a sophisticated interface allowing its use by both internal employees, as well as external job applicants.

A human resource information system (HRIS) is computer software employers use to manage the human resources functions of their organization. It has the capability to maintain employment records of all staff members, and employers can use it to collect metrics surrounding the firm’s staffing, performance management, compensation and benefits activities. Although not all companies utilize an HRIS system, there are many benefits to doing so.

An HRIS system typically holds all information surrounding the firm’s human resources initiatives, including details regarding the group's hiring practices, such as a comprehensive listing of all job applicants, an up-to-date index of job openings and electronic copies of each employee’s onboarding paperwork, such as I-9 and W2 forms

An HRIS system allows candidates for open positions to submit their resumes and contact information to a potential employer from a remote computer. The system then collects the information and archives it so it is easily accessible by the hiring manager.