Deep Freeze: Protecting Point-of-Sale Systems Against Malware and Tampering

The great thing about running a retail business in 2025? There’s a technological solution that can make just about everything you do easier and more efficient.

The bad thing about running a retail business in 2025? All these technological solutions provide a possible entry point for threat actors to compromise customer data and harm your overall security.

This includes the most important process of any business: sales.

Find out how point-of-sale systems are vulnerable to malware and unauthorized modifications, and discover what you can do about it.

What Are Point-of-Sale Systems?

A point-of-sale system, or POS, is a computerized cash register. These systems have software that tallies orders, accepts payments, monitors inventory, creates invoices and collects marketing data. POS systems enable merchants to process payments and log transactions more efficiently.

Even if you’re a completely new business owner, you’re still probably familiar with POS systems because you’ve likely used one to buy something. POS systems are common in just about every retail environment, from cafes to hardware stores to museums. POS technology includes countertop terminals and apps that enable business payments from devices such as smartphones. This means POS technology encompasses both physical payment terminals in retail stores and checkout processes on ecommerce platforms.

How Does Point-of-Sale Technology Work?

POS technology typically uses barcode scanning to determine the cost of an order, accept a payment and record a transaction. Cash payments may require inserting bills or coins into a machine to count and log the amounts involved, or a cashier might enter these numbers manually.

POS has really simplified and expedited card payments, which is good considering the dominance of these types of payments today. A purchaser taps, inserts or swipes their card into the readers. The POS system then connects to the cardholder’s bank or credit card account, verifies there are sufficient funds to pay for the transaction and confirms if the payment is accepted or rejected. The POS system may ask for a PIN code. This process is much the same for ecommerce transactions.

Innovations in POS Systems

There have been two relatively recent developments in POS technology. These are EMV chips and NFC technology. Here’s how they work:

• EMV chips: EMV stands for Europay, Mastercard and Visa. These chips help limit fraud by using embedded computer chips on credit and debit cards.
• NFC technology: Near field communication (NFC) is a short-range wireless technology that allows two electronic devices to communicate with each other over a distance of 1.6 inches (4 centimeters). NFC technology also has built-in encryption.

Given POS technology has features and solutions to encrypt data and prevent fraud, they must be pretty impenetrable, right? Well …

Security Vulnerabilities in POS

The Federal Trade Commission has tracked worrying increases in fraud. In 2024, FTC data indicate $12.4 billion lost to fraud. Investment scams account for the largest portion of this, which don’t pertain to POS vulnerabilities. However, the second-biggest category, imposter scams, definitely does relate to POS. Scammers can steal customer and business information from insufficiently secure POS transactions, enabling them to commit identity theft.

Here is how POS security problems can manifest:

Data Breaches

POS systems are major targets for cybercriminals seeking to steal customer payment information, such as debit and credit card numbers, personal data and transaction details. A successful breach can lead to significant financial losses, legal liabilities and damage to a retail company’s reputation.

Malware and Ransomware

Ransomware is a type of malware that locks down POS systems, disrupting operations until the retail business pays the cybercriminals to restore their systems and/or data. Threat actors can install malware into POS systems to scrape payment card data from memory, log keystrokes or intercept network traffic.

Unauthorized Access

Sometimes retail businesses don’t do all they can to protect their POS systems. Weak passwords, default credentials and inadequate access controls can let unauthorized individuals access POS systems.

Vulnerability Exploitation

Outdated POS software and operating systems may contain security vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit. If a business doesn’t apply security patches and updates regularly, they’re in danger. 

How Deep Freeze Protects POS Systems

Faronics developed Deep Freeze to protect myriad computer systems, including POS. Deep Freeze enables you to optimize your store computers and enhance security. The key feature is Reboot to Restore.

If you suspect someone has made an unauthorized change to your POS systems — such as installing malware or an employee making an honest but unhelpful change — you won’t need to panic. Simply restart the system. 

Deep Freeze makes POS systems nearly indestructible. Reboot to Restore automatically resets a workstation to an authorized state. No matter what happens to a POS system during a session, you can reset it back to its desired setup just by turning it off and on again.

Want to find out how Deep Freeze can protect your retail company’s POS systems? Reach out to our experts today!