The credit card industry has made proactive strides to protect confidential customer information and ensure the integrity of the credit card payment system. The PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) is a relatively straightforward set of computer and network security guidelines which all organizations that accept, process, transmit, or store credit card transaction data must comply with. Deadlines have passed and organizations around the world have either implemented PCI DSS compliance, or they are scrambling to do so now. One of the biggest Achilles heel's of the credit card transaction process remains the POS (point of sale) systems though. It was insecure wireless traffic at the POS which led to the TJX data breach. As companies work to lock down their networks and protect customer data, one of the issues they are confronted with is how to secure older, or legacy, systems. They may not be able to upgrade to the latest, more secure operating system, or just install an update that fixes everything. These systems are often lesser known, or even proprietary systems, and they are frequently not kept up to date, making them a prime target for attackers to leverage to intercept customer data or gain access to the internal network resources. Some vendors are stepping up with 3rd-party tools to fill the gap and protect the POS though. Take a look at New attack trend pushes POS encryption to the fore at Networkworld.com for more details.