ShopKeep Security Update: April 2018

Learn about safe register codes, customer information you shouldn’t be saving, and the benefits of auto signout.

The safety and security of your information and your customers’ information is of the utmost importance to us here at ShopKeep, so we are writing this blog post to share some key security tips with you! Safety and security is a full-time job for us, and for you, which means this post is just the tip of the iceberg. We will be sharing tips on the blog every few months and via email as well, so make sure that you read those monthly newsletters closely.

We’ll run through three tips today that can help any merchant keep their register and customer information more secure.

Choose a safe register code

Using a default password for any product or service is never a good idea, and using your default register code to log into your register is no exception. By sticking with the default register code, you are opening yourself up to significant security risks and making it easy for other people to get into your system. This could allow bad actors to ring up fake sales and returns, fraudulently adjust cash drawer information, and potentially change store settings.

The best way to combat these dangers is by choosing a unique register code of your own that other people won’t have easy access to. To change your code, simply visit the Staff List section of your BackOffice and edit your employee settings. If you need help, follow the instructions in our support article.

Save the right customer information

Tracking sales by customer with ShopKeep is a great way to understand who your best customers are, when they visit your store, and what items they purchase. You can easily add customer information, including name, email address, phone number, and physical address right from the register or in BackOffice. Then you can tag a customer on any transaction with a couple of quick taps and be ready to report on their activity in great detail from the BackOffice.

In addition to the above information, you can also add notes about any customer, such as their favorite dish at a restaurant, their preferred clothing size at a boutique, or maybe their birthday so you remember to give them a special discount. What you should NOT be storing in the Notes field is any sensitive personal information such as credit card numbers, bank account information, and social security numbers. If you are doing this right now, we highly recommend that you remove any sensitive information that you have stored in the Notes field as soon as possible. If you need help with that, follow the instructions in our support article.

Secure your register with Auto Signout

Auto signout is not a new feature to ShopKeep, but it remains an important one for register security. What auto signout does is it allows you to automatically sign out of a the register either after each and every transaction or after a set amount of time.

This feature is great for security purposes because it makes sure that each person who performs a transaction on the register actually has the privileges to do so using their unique register code (see above). Plus, it gives you more accurate shift reporting because the employee making the sale always has to sign in before doing so. We especially recommend auto signout after each transaction for restaurants, but if the same cashier is making a number of sales in a row for example, we recommend setting a time-based threshold.

To enable auto signout on your register, visit the General page under the Register Settings section in your BackOffice. Need help? Check out our support article.