While the myriad of technological advances have made our lives easier, the negative side affect is that a lot of our information is out on the Web and there are people out there that will not stop attempting to get it. If your personal network and computers are protected then the next best way to get that information is to go after a financial institutions database, thereby getting hundreds or thousands of different bits of information at one time. Now that these companies are starting to get better at protecting themselves, hackers are turning to companies like restaurants in order to get financial information.

Among data breaches and attacks around the world, a recent study found that 90 percent were conducted with the intent of stealing customer information including getting credit card holder data, as well as email addresses and account information. Hackers are finding better and newer ways in order to get at this information. Sometimes a restaurant is guilty of simply having a password attached to their databases that is easily guessable. Sometimes there are not simply enough security measures put into place. One of the most popular ways for hackers to gain access these days is by using public Wi-Fi connections, which have been foolishly connected to the company’s point of sale systems.

One of the top Web security companies in the world, Trustwave Spider Labs, says that it conducted 42 percent more data breach investigations in 2011 than they had in 2010. The company says that 85 percent of those data breaches occurred in companies that work in the food and beverage industry. The main reason for this industry suddenly drawing such massive attention is simple-- these companies do a brisk business with credit cards. If hackers can breach these companies, who tend to have more lax security services, they can get at the same information that is stored in banks.

Because of this, security companies are stressing that these companies need to monitor their data security more frequently. If they don’t, they will find their customer’s data in danger. If that happens on a regular basis, the companies will certainly see a lot less customers over time.