It is critical for both your General Store data and any credit card operations that your internal network be secure. General Store Technical Support can assist you with basic networking, however, it is the end user's responsibility to secure the network from outside intrusion.
To assure that you are compliant with credit card processing rules, your network must be set up and configured correctly.
Many users limit themselves to the router supplied by their ISP. However, these devices are not normally 'locked down' with unique, specific passwords etc. In addition, if this device is replaced, or if you change your ISP, the device changes, which requires a complete network re-configuration. You should, therefore, purchase your own (preferably commercial grade) router/firewall. Then, set a strong administrator password, along with any user passwords. If you have contracted with a local technician to perform this task, make sure he documents the users/password information and gives you a copy of this document. (This document should be secured but available if needed). If the device has wireless, you should configure your wireless with WPA2 encryption and a strong, lengthy, unique wireless key. If your device offers guest access and you do not need this function, disable it. If you want to provide your customers with wireless access, you must use a Guest function on a wireless router, and it must be configured to prevent any access to the rest of your network. We strongly suggest you enlist the services of a qualified network technician.
We cannot stress this enough: Breaches, or security lapses, can and will result in the complete suspension of credit card processing, along with fines and penalties. Any security breaches discovered by either your credit card processor or an independent network audit are the end user's (store owner's) responsibility.
There are dozens of anti-virus software solutions available, both paid and free. Frequently, an anti-virus update or the installation of a 'home' product will prevent network access to The General Store. Best practice is to consult your local computer/network technician for his/her recommendation on anti-virus software. Each tech will have a 'favorite' or one they use all the time. In the event that the software must be configured specifically for The General Store, your technician will be able to accomplish this easily.
You should determine the IP addressing range of your router. You can do this in one of the following ways:
The easiest method is to set the IP address on the server to .50. In other words, if the address of the router is: 192.168.1.1, set the IP on the server to: 192.168.1.50. Leave the first three octets the same as the router, but change the last octet to: .50. Note: you must make sure to set the subnet mask, gateway, and DNS Server addresses correctly. Normally, the subnet will be 255.255.255.0 and the gateway and DNS addresses will be the address of your router. However, this is router/network specific.
If, for any reason, you lose network/internet access after changing the addressing, set the IP and DNS back to 'Obtain automatically', then restart the computer. You should then refer to a qualified network technician to perform this task.
If you do not set the main station's IP address as above, you must lock it out of the DHCP range of the router.
Restart your computer to complete any changes.