Dive Brief:
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In a report that touts cloud computing as a security measure and its own cloud computing services, Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing unit said it surveyed more than 12,000 retailers that used the Cloud Security Readiness Tool, which tests companies’ IT systems, between 2012 and 2014.
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The survey found that 32% have ineffective management of the physical access to their computer systems, 31% don’t use “role-based access control,” which restricts various levels of access depending on an employee’s job, and 35% use paper for inventory and asset-management.
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The report also noted that 51% of retailers don’t have a plan in place to respond to security breaches and 72% haven’t budgeted for cyber-based disasters.
Dive Insight:
This report by Microsoft’s cybersecurity and cloud-computing unit reveals several discerning reasons why retailers remain vulnerable to data security breaches. While point-of-sales and payment security understandably gets a lot of attention, this report shows that many retailers have a lot to do overall all in their IT departments to protect themselves and their customers from hacks and theft.