Improving Retail Cybersecurity

Solution Brief

Why is it Critical to Improve Cybersecurity for Today’s Retail Environments?

Retailers are adding smart systems to meet customer demand and keep business agile, including Contactless Point of Sale (POS) systems, mobile transactions and smart shelves to name a few. In the wake of this digital transformation, retailers are confronting many challenges:

  • Increased omnichannel data security requirements
  • Rising threat of sophisticated cyberattacks
  • Risk of brand damage and customer loss if a major cyber breach occurs
  • Customer satisfaction linked to operational resiliency
  • Poor visibility of retail IoT and building management systems
  • Understaffed security teams and lack of focus on IoT/OT security

To prevent loss of sales and maintain customer satisfaction, retailers need to be able to see and monitor all IoT/OT systems so cybersecurity problems can be fixed before they cause harm.

As retail increases its digital presence, from cashier-less stores to drone deliveries, the attack surface expands. Retailers are likely not investing enough now to reduce the risk in a more-digitized retail world five years from now.

Deloitte 2022 Retail Industry Outlook

Close Your Retail IoT and OT Blind Spots and Security Gaps

Good shopping mall and retail cybersecurity starts with great visibility. Nozomi Networks leads the industry in IoT/OT visibility and situational awareness.

Retail is a primary target of sophisticated cyberattacks due to its highly prized customer data. To minimize customer risk and improve your cybersecurity posture, it is imperative that you secure your systems to keep your customers satisfied and safe.

Most retail security programs don’t account for the cyber risk that comes from IoT and building automation systems. To mitigate these security risks, you need a clear picture of all your IoT and OT devices and systems and how they communicate.

The Nozomi Networks solution provides automated asset inventory that allows you to see your entire retail IoT and building automation ecosystem and their risks in one place.

It helps you make informed, prioritized decisions in real time to efficiently mitigate cybersecurity incidents and stop operational disruptions.

In addition, Nozomi Networks improves your situational awareness by creating a live interactive network visualization of all your IoT, OT and IT systems. This includes CCTV, energy management, escalators, HVAC, lighting, POS, smart shelves, smart parking and more from every one of your locations.

A clear view of your retail IoT, OT and IT environments allows you to detect vulnerabilities and anomalies – providing you insights and actionable intelligence for quick and efficient mitigation.

Single Asset View with extensive information.
Single Asset View with extensive information.
Portion of interactive Network Visualization Graph.
Network Visualization View displays all assets communicating on your network for real-time awareness.

Improve Cybersecurity for Your Retail IoT and Building Management Systems

Vantage Alerts and Playbooks script guided remediation efforts to accelerate response.
Vantage Alerts and Playbooks script guided remediation efforts to accelerate response.
Vantage Workbooks show which vulnerabilities create the highest risk exposure and how to prioritize efforts for the greatest impact.
Vantage Workbooks show which vulnerabilities create the highest risk exposure and how to prioritize efforts for the greatest impact.

Keeping customers delighted, operations running and data secure while providing an efficient and automated buying experience is key to any retailer’s strategy. Yet, today’s retail and intelligent building systems are vulnerable to cyber threats and downtime risks.

Retail systems like access control, CCTV, elevators, HVAC and lighting, manage nearly every aspect of a retailer’s environment — but the attack surface exposed to customers, employees and vendors put retail cybersecurity at an increased risk.

Potential consequences include:

  • System outages
  • Operational shutdowns
  • Financial liability
  • Theft of consumers’ personal data
  • Customer/employee personal harm
  • Brand reputation damage

Nozomi Networks provides a flexible and scalable solution to address these risks in stores and shopping malls, so you can continue your digital transformation while minimizing retail cybersecurity risks.


In general, legacy technologies that retailers run in-store cannot support future-facing customer and associate needs, and ultimately, they may create unacceptable operational risk. Ultimately, the goal is to create a seamless shopping experience in omnichannel. But that entails preparations beyond the online world and includes data privacy and security technologies for the physical space as well to help create a seamless transition. Source: Deloitte 2022 Retail Industry Outlook

Expand Your Retail Cybersecurity Strategy

Retail networks and buildings may have IT cybersecurity tools and programs in place, but if existing and newly added IoT and OT devices are not adequately covered, they are exposed to cyber risk.

To limit cyber risk and the ensuing financial liability, retailers and building operators need a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy that covers not just traditional IT systems, but also expanding retail IoT and OT infrastructure.

The right IoT/OT solution helps future-proof your buildings with continuous threat intelligence to counter tomorrow’s malware and offers scalability to handle new technology and properties.

Scale Up

Dispersed buildings, quickly evolving IoT systems and changing retail footprints require monitoring at scale. It’s critical to implement a solution that can protect any number of OT, IoT, IT, edge and cloud assets.

You need an easy-to-deploy and resource-efficient system that scales elegantly. A SaaS-powered application provides a single pane of glass view of aggregated and prioritized risks across all facilities. It scales quickly and reduces complexity and cost. Paired with a wide range of on-site sensors, such a system meets the needs of any retail organization.

The Nozomi Networks solution scales smoothly and is readily tailored to meet your needs. It allows you to monitor very high numbers of retail assets and locations with reduced complexity and cost.

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Discover how easy it is to anticipate, diagnose and respond to cyber threats by automating your IoT and OT asset discovery, inventory, and management.

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