Home > Sales & Marketing > eBusiness > Cyber Crooks Ready For Black Friday/Cyber Monday

Cyber Crooks Ready For Black Friday/Cyber Monday

Cybercriminals aren’t just going after credit cards and Disney+ accounts this holiday period as cybersecurity experts warn both consumers and businesses to stay diligent during Christmas to avoid getting caught out by online fraudsters.

While Black Friday and Cyber Monday present opportunities to both consumers and businesses for huge discounts and increased sales respectively, it also opens the door to online fraudster relying on customers to drop their guard.

That’s according to cybersecurity legal expert and partner at law firm Cooley, Mark Deem who highlights the risk cyber attacks could have to supply chains in an article by the Finacial Times.

Dave Baggett, co-founder and CEO of anti-phishing start-up Inky echoed these fears calling the holidays ‘a bonanza for cybercriminals’.

In speaking to CNBC, Baggett said ‘people are buying a lot of things over a short period of time, and they are hurried about it’.

‘This presents opportunities for crooks.’

Gregory Garrett, a cybersecurity expert at BDO, the professional services group identifies the three main threats to cybersecurity: distributed denial-of-service attacks, business email compromise attacks and ransomware attacks.

  • Distributed denial-of-service attacks cause ‘operational network system overloads’ by oversaturating the e-commerce channels of business with fake orders, email queries and other digital traffic.
  • Email compromise attacks are primarily cyber attackers requesting payment while posing as business partners or suppliers.
  • Ransomware attacks are generally the most serious as it involves the hacker encrypting your data, only decrypting it once the hacker’s demands are met, usually by payment.

Unfortunately though, in ransomware attacks, there is no way to guarantee your data is returned.

Cybersecurity is a significant factor in the age of digital shopping to both protect retailers and customers.

Online security provider SiteLock shows that 56% of consumers would wait longer than one month to shop with a retailer who’s website had been comprised, meaning one cyber attack and half your customers would be gone.

In fact, 66% of consumers are concerned about stolen personal data when online shopping, with 48% of them believing small online retailers do not do enough to protect customer data properly.



You may also like
Tens Of Thousands Of Appliances Sitting On OZ Wharves Problem For Retailers
BREAKING NEWS: Harvey Norman Site Down, On Biggest Day Of The Year
Retailers & Suppliers Will Start Laying Off Staff If Black Friday Fails To Deliver
The Top Last Minute Black Friday Deals From Acer
Retailers Who Knock Back Pay Rises Backed By RBA