The holiday season is largely characterized by a significant rise in consumer spending, and digital deals for Black Friday and Cyber Monday have advanced the continued shift from in-person to online shopping. As shoppers eagerly flood websites, applications, and digital marketplaces to search for discounts online, cybercriminals are poised to exploit these trends and behaviors for malicious purposes.
The chaos of the holiday season often leads to mistakes and oversight, and cybercriminals take advantage of heightened online activity associated with holiday shopping trends. The dramatic surge in traffic experienced by online retailers around the holidays creates a multitude of opportunities for threat actors to target consumers and execute crime such as ransomware, identity theft, financial fraud, and more. And unfortunately, individual consumers are not always the only ones impacted.
Relevance for Businesses
It is not uncommon for employees to browse the web for personal purposes like holiday shopping while on the clock, creating safety concerns that organizations must be aware of and prepared for. Additionally, the rising trend of BYOD policies for hybrid and remote employees means that the activities that take place on personal devices, even before or after work hours, can create opportunities for cybercriminals to target their employers for larger scale results. This overlap can expose corporate networks to heightened risks, such as ransomware attacks, supply chain vulnerabilities, and fraudulent bot activity.
Factors at Play
Exclusive holiday deals and limited-time sales encourage shoppers to buy more in a smaller window of time, creating a heightened sense of urgency that makes consumers more susceptible to scams. This makes it much easier for cybercriminals to execute successful attacks. Normally, people are more likely to catch the telltale signs associated with these scenarios, such as fraudulent websites with incorrect URLs and messages with strange links. However, while scrambling to secure an item before it goes out of stock or a sale ends, people overlook these red flags.
Companies’ IT teams also often struggle to keep pace with increased traffic during the holiday shopping frenzy, and e-commerce platforms are often pushed to their limits and can become overloaded. This places pressure on retailers and their websites and applications which creates vulnerabilities that can be exploited by cybercriminals.
Additionally, the attack surface continues to expand, creating a variety of entry points for threat actors. This is extrapolated by the rise of digital payment systems and wallets, IoT-enabled shopping assistants, and more.
Common Types of Attacks
In their attempts to execute successful attacks, threat actors deploy a multitude of tactics. A few popular types of scams to look out for during the holiday season include:
- Phishing campaigns target individuals with emails and texts imitating trusted retailers, enticing them with links to fake deals or shipping notifications that redirect to fraudulent websites designed to steal personal and payment information.
- Malvertising describes the placement of malicious ads on legitimate websites to redirect users to harmful sites or install malware on their devices.
- Fake websites and applications created by cybercriminals imitate popular retailers to trick shoppers into sharing sensitive information.
- Credential stuffing attacks occur when cybercriminals leverage credentials that have been compromised in previous attacks to hijack user accounts and make unauthorized purchases.
- Infostealers is a term for malware that is distributed through fake downloads or malicious links to harvest sensitive information like credit card details and passwords.
Best Practices
To ensure that these seemingly harmless behaviors don’t lead to catastrophic security incidents, organizations must implement robust security measures to protect their infrastructure from these attempts. Taking precautions like regularly conducting vulnerability assessments, securing payment systems, implementing network segmentation, and engaging in proactive monitoring can protect critical business data and operations as well as the employees whose work relies on these systems. Partnering with a trusted managed security provider can further alleviate the burden on internal security teams, providing real-time threat intelligence and expert support to mitigate risks and maintain strong defenses during this high-stakes season.
Additionally, to ensure safety during the online shopping experience, it is critical to share information about these risks and promote a cautious and proactive approach. Here are a few actionable tips for organizations to share with their employees:
- If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Scammers often lure victims with enticing ads and emails. Avoid clicking on links and visit verified retailers to confirm current deals.
- Slow down and stay on your toes. Always take a second to look for red flags. In emails and text messages, look closely for signs of fraud such as spelling errors, unexpected attachments, and unusual email domains. If opting to shop within an app, ensure your downloads are sourced only from trusted marketplaces like Google Play or the Apple App Store. Before entering any personal information at checkout, make sure the domain matches the official retailer’s name and that the URL starts with https://. Utilize Trust Pilot or other review sites to verify the reputation of the retailer.
- Pay close attention to account activity. Keep a close eye on financial statements from your bank and credit card company, especially after making online purchases. Monitor for unusual charges or unauthorized transactions, and report any suspicious activity to your institution immediately.
- Always utilize the latest software. Whether you’re shopping on your phone, laptop, or tablet, it is important to keep up with software and application updates. Outdated operating systems and software can harbor unpatched vulnerabilities that attackers can easily exploit, increasing the likelihood of falling victim to one of these scams.
- Keep your accounts secure. Update passwords often and enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) whenever possible. This extra layer of security can help prevent unauthorized access even when credentials may be compromised.
Working Together
With the heightened risk of cyberattacks during the holiday season, a collective effort is necessary. To protect both individuals and organizations as a whole, consumers, their employers, retailers, and cybersecurity professionals must all be vigilant in their efforts to encourage secure practices online. By taking proactive measures and staying informed about the risks we face online, we can promote a more secure digital landscape, even amid the chaos often associated with the holiday season.
