EDI VAN Security and Service Interruptions

Week #7 of IDEA’s EDI Masterclass: Your Ultimate Guide to Streamlining Business Processes with Electronic Data Interchange

By Tom Guzik, Director, Digital Integration Services, IDEA

headshot of Tom Guzik

Like any technology-driven service, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Value-Added Networks (VANs) are not immune to occasional service interruptions. When you understand why these interruptions occur, how security measures like lockouts work, and what steps you can take in response, you can maintain operational efficiency and data security.

What is an EDI VAN?

EDI VANs are intermediaries that manage the exchange of electronic documents between businesses. They provide a reliable, secure channel for transmitting data, ensuring that sensitive information remains protected from unauthorized access. To achieve this, VANs implement a range of security measures, including encryption, authentication protocols, and access controls.

Service Interruption Causes

Despite their best efforts to provide 24/7 uptime, EDI VANs can experience service interruptions — both planned and unplanned. The former is the most common, as critical system upgrades — introducing new features, enhance security, and replace old hardware or software — cause the majority of disruptions.

Less frequent are the unplanned interruptions can occur due to technical glitches, network issues, or other unforeseen circumstances. These interruptions are generally resolved quickly, but can be a bit of a nuisance by preventing you from accessing and sending critical EDI documents. Far more insidious, and thankfully rare, are security threats. 

Avoiding Service Interruptions with Lockouts

To safeguard against security threats, EDI VANs employ advanced security protocols, including the security lockout. This feature is designed to protect the VAN’s network from denial-of-service (DoS) attacks and ransomware.

A denial-of-service attack aims to overwhelm a network by flooding it with excessive traffic or login attempts. In the context of EDI VANs, this often involves a malicious actor making numerous rapid login attempts with incorrect credentials. The sheer volume of failed attempts can overwhelm the VAN’s systems, causing them to crash or become unresponsive. As a result, legitimate users are unable to access their mailboxes or perform necessary functions.

How Security Lockouts Work

Security lockouts temporarily block user connections for a predefined period after a certain number of failed login attempts.

This lockout mechanism serves two primary purposes:

  1. Preventing DoS Attacks: By limiting the number of failed login attempts, the lockout helps prevent bad actors from overwhelming the system with repeated, rapid attempts.
  2. Protecting Legitimate Users: The lockout ensures legitimate users can still access their accounts by avoiding system crashes caused by malicious activity.

What to Do During an Interruption

If you encounter a service interruption with your EDI VAN and are informed the issue has been resolved, take these proactive steps to avoid further complications:

  1. Pause automatic connection retries: When the VAN indicates the problem has been fixed, stop your automatic connection retry procedure for 5–10 minutes. This allows the security lockout to clear itself after any unsuccessful connection attempts. Continuing to retry connections immediately could trigger additional lockouts, further complicating the issue.
  2. Monitor system status: Keep an eye on any system status updates or notifications from your VAN provider. These updates will provide information on the current state of the service and any additional actions you may need to take.
  3. Contact Support if necessary: If you experience ongoing issues or if the lockout persists beyond the expected time frame, reach out to your VAN’s customer support team. They can provide additional guidance and help resolve any lingering problems.

Consider Security Measures when Selecting Your EDI VAN

While security measures like lockouts might seem inconvenient, they are essential for protecting your data and ensuring the integrity of the EDI VAN service. By preventing unauthorized access and mitigating the risk of DoS attacks, these measures help maintain a secure and reliable environment for all users.

The benefits of these security protocols extend beyond immediate protection. They contribute to overall trust in the EDI VAN system, allowing businesses to confidently exchange sensitive information without fear of data breaches or disruptions.

If you have any questions, please contact your IDEA Exchange Account Executive or Ilene Bromberg at 703-562-4689 or at ibromberg@idea4industry.com. We look forward to helping you unlock the full potential of EDI for your business.

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