Hot News:

Network of 330,000 cash registers is hacked

Elizabeth Weise, USATODAY 5:41 p.m. EDT August 8, 2016

SAN FRANCISCO — One of the largest point-of-sale payment systems in the hospitality industry, used in restaurants and hotels globally, has been breached by a Russian organized crime group, computer security writer Brian Krebs reported Monday.
The breach occurred in systems run by MICROS Systems, which was purchased by Oracle in 2014.
Oracle security engineers found malware in some systems run by MICROS and identified the affected systems and blocked malicious processes and unauthorized network connections, the company said in an undated letter and FAQ sent to customers, which it provided to USA TODAY on Monday.
In the letter, Oracle assured customers that “payment card data is encrypted both at rest and in transit in the MICROS hosted environment.”
Whether that meant actual customer financial data was accessed by the hackers in unknown.
Krebs, who has deep sources in the Russian criminal underground, reported that the breach was tied to Russia's Carbanak Gang, which stole over $1 billion from banks worldwide in 2015.
The Redwood Shores, Calif.-based company said it would contact customers whose data was affected by the malware.
In response to the discovery, Oracle is requiring all MICROS customers to change the passwords for all MICROS accounts.  In addition, it recommended that customers change the passwords “for any account that was used by a MICROS representative to access your on-premises systems,” the letter said.
According to Oracle, MICROS point of sale programs were used by hotels, food and beverage facilities and retailers at more than 330,000 sites in 180 countries in 2014.
MICROS is "huge" in the hospitality industry, one of its largest if not the largest point of safe and software systems, said Henry Harteveldt of Atmosphere Research Group in San Francisco.
“MICROS could be at the front desk, it could be in the coffee shop, the restaurant, the golf course, the night club, everything. When a hotel signs up, it is operating in dozens if not more places within in a typical mid-sized or large hotel,” he said.
Neither Oracle’s internal corporate network nor its other cloud and service offerings were impacted by the malware, the company said.
Security analyst Avivah Litan with technology research company Gartner called the news “disturbing.”
“This is a very big deal,” she said. “It just indicates how hackers can gain access to customer credentials and allegedly secure customer systems through a hack into the back end where it all comes together.”

************

 You have a fix for this, DW Agent!   Those restaurants, casinos, etc. using Micros can get a quick (relatively) inexpensive (relatively) secured lockdown on their system -- through you and DW's strategic partners.

See past blog for notes re. this!

*************

Relevant letter .. feel free to edit for your use:

Mr. Restaurant Owner:  Are you looking for ways to secure your payment environment, protect against potential breaches and get EMV ready?

Oracle has selected Elavon as their first partner to utilize the MICROS Payment Gateway (MPG) in North America to jointly deliver a secure, future-ready solution. Elavon is certified to MPG and best of all, Elavon is ready now for EMV. Elavon’s security solution also protects against breach exposure with card encryption, tokenization and provides advanced payment acceptance capabilities such as Apple Pay™.

Elavon’s Simplify application, a key component of the overall solution, is already EMV-enabled. When the liability shift happens, you won’t need to change your current platform or upgrade your POS software. Simplify will work with your pre-existing Oracle Hospitality POS and removes the POS from PCI scope through its unique semi-integrated delivery. Simplify isolates sensitive cardholder data from the payment system by securely encrypting it at the start and during the payment authorization process.

Elavon’s Safe-T service and Simplify application offer many benefits. These include:

•             EMV Readiness

•             Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE) and Tokenization

•             NFC payments acceptance (i.e. Apple Pay™)

•             PCI scope reduction

•             Lower overall cost of maintenance and support

•             Less complex upgrades made at the hosted level versus local application level

For more information on Elavon’s security solution please  let me set up a consultation call with our West Coast MICROS specialist.  Call me today… Michael Lammons Your Local Digital World Agent 559.824.3254

Elavon, Inc. and Oracle Corporation are separate legal entities, which are not affiliated with each other in any way by common ownership, management, control, or otherwise. The content, application, function, and performance of their systems and their individual products are the responsibility of each respective company. Security solutions incorporating MPG, Simplify, and Safe-T may not be suitable for all merchant customers. ************ If you have an interested hotel or restaurant or casino owner, contact support and DW will set up call with Peter or Casey, the Micros Experts.  ************