Cybersecurity for Cyber Monday

Cybersecurity for Cyber Monday is more important in 2022 than ever before for retail businesses.

Generally one of the biggest online shopping days of the year, online retailers will see massive amounts of credit card numbers and other confidential data pass through their systems between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The vulnerability of retail organizations and the rise in online shopping make this time of year incredibly lucrative for cybercriminals who deploy ransomware, malware, phishing attacks, and more.

Retailers must already follow compliance standards, such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and other regulations, or risk hefty fines and additional penalties. However, when it comes to cybersecurity for Cyber Monday and beyond, online retailers should also stay abreast of the latest scams and take proactive measures to protect themselves, their employees, and their customers against bad actors hovering in wait during this busiest shopping stretch.

Cyber Monday Threats

Ransomware

While demanding huge ransoms, cybercriminals find vulnerabilities and launch ransomware to commandeer and encrypt systems. Threat actors plan ransomware attacks when a retailer is more likely to pay the ransom than face downtime during the highest sales volume period of the year.

Phishing

In a phishing attack, a cybercriminal mimics an email from a legitimate source to convince a victim to click a link or attachment within the email, allowing the attacker to steal information or install malware on their system. Employees can go from a company’s most significant weakness to the best defense with frequent training and policies on identifying and reporting suspicious content.

Malware

Point-of-sale (POS) systems can become a reliable source of credit card data for cybercriminals if they lack point-to-point encryption. When systems are not secured, malware can infiltrate and find card data as it is processed.

Expanding Attack Surface

As organizations adopt more cloud-based services, manage more extensive networks, and increase their digital footprint, the attack surface and risk associated with each vector grow. The expanding attack surface makes it easier for advanced persistent threats (APTs) to go unnoticed and move across networks. At the same time, insecure third-party plugins may remain unpatched, and IoT tools often run outdated operating systems. These weaknesses expose networks to phishing attacks, compromised credentials, malicious card-skimming scripts, and more.

An attack during Cyber Monday brings lost sales, damaged reputations, and even potential lawsuits. No matter the season, Securance can help you understand the threats on the horizon and plan to evolve ahead of cybercriminals. Contact us today to set up a free consultation.