'Tis the season to be breached. The holiday shopping season is upon us, and after the year the retail industry had, both consumers and retailers have a right to be nervous. Breaches are inevitable, and hackers are sophisticated. For shoppers, these security concerns give consumers another reason to closely monitor checking and credit card accounts. Retailers, too, should stay vigilant for suspicious activity and consider their security strategy going into this shopping season.

WinMagic Data Security published "5 Observations of Retail Data Breaches: Why Encryption?," an eBook outlining how data encryption can augment the existing PCI Data Security Standard and solve the data-protection challenges facing the retail industry. Mark Hickman, COO at WinMagic Inc., has five best practices for retailers to remain safe this holiday season.