Reply to post: Re: MICROS payment terminals hacked

Big Red alert: Oracle's MICROS payment terminal biz hacked

bazza Silver badge

Re: MICROS payment terminals hacked

Oh jezus god, is this the state of 'computer' security in late 2016?

I'm afraid so, and these kind of events will never ever quite go away. Not whilst there is no reliable way for a computer to establish the identity of a human user. We have user names and passwords, biometrics, swipe cards, etc, but all of these have flaws that can and will be exploited.

It's not helped either by too many systems being connected to the public Internet when there is no true need for it. A till in a shop does not absolutely need to be connected to the Internet, and neither does the company network behind it. Connecting it to the Internet seems cheaper than having a private WAN right up until your entire business is hacked to smithereens.

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