The holiday surge in online activity, driven by eager consumers seeking the best deals, often creates a smokescreen for sophisticated threats that can lead to substantial financial losses, reputational damage, and even account takeovers.
For consumers, this increased online activity means a higher risk of encountering fraudulent activities, missing out on highly sought-after products, or having their accounts compromised. Meanwhile, businesses face the daunting task of safeguarding their systems against a barrage of cyber threats while maintaining customer satisfaction.
The perfect storm
The holiday season brings a perfect storm of vulnerabilities for retailers. Reduced staffing and a surge in online activity fueled by sales and promotions create a prime target for cybercriminals. The intricate web of online interactions in the retail landscape offers a veritable playground for these attackers, especially those targeting APIs. Imagine the countless clicks you make to check product availability, customize options, or check out – each seemingly harmless click triggers an API call, creating numerous opportunities for malicious actors to exploit vulnerabilities and infiltrate systems.
Just to illustrate the scale of this risk, consider the iPhone 16 launch on September 20th. In the first week alone, eight leading telecommunications companies recorded a staggering 6.7 billion API transactions – a whopping 37% of which were malicious.
The attack of the bots
The retail sector faces another significant attack vector: bots. During the 2024 Labor Day weekend, Cequence witnessed a staggering 79% surge in blocked bot traffic. These malicious bots aim to generate seemingly legitimate traffic or engage in content scraping attacks, both of which can be particularly challenging to detect during heightened shopping seasons. Threat actors often target highly sought-after limited-edition items for resale or simply to cause general chaos.
Content scraping, where threat actors extract data from websites and APIs, often leads to other types of attacks. Even after items are added to the cart and securely checked out, threats persist. The subsequent initiation of shipping confirmations, often facilitated by third-party logistics providers, introduces additional vulnerabilities that can be exploited by cybercriminals. These third-party logistics providers often have access to sensitive customer information, including private contact details, which can be farmed by cybercriminals to create convincing social engineering campaigns. Such campaigns can come in the form of emails or text messages shortly after a legitimate purchase, often directing the target to a malicious link where they may inadvertently share personal information or download malware.
Whether you’re a retailer aiming to safeguard your business or a consumer looking to stay secure online, understanding the specific risks retailers face is paramount for robust protection. Steps retailers should consider when looking to improve their cybersecurity posture include:
- Practice makes perfect: A popular phrase in cybersecurity that rings true is ‘you can’t defend against what you don’t know exists’. Understanding the unique risks your organization faces and conducting regular drills against those threats is essential for effective cybersecurity.
- Visibility is key: Retail environments can encompass an intricate network of APIs. Lacking visibility into just one of the APIs your organization utilizes can be the one vulnerability a threat actor finds and exploits.
- Prioritize your business goals: Focus on what drives success for your organization. If speed is paramount, optimize performance. If user experience is crucial, ensure secure and fast user validation using methods like canary headers, known IPs, and device IDs, and add extra checks for deviations.
- Keep an eye on patterns: Tracking patterns, especially during peak shopping times, can inform future cybersecurity steps. Monitor login patterns closely. For example, if a user typically logs in once a week but suddenly logs in 50 times in an hour from IP addresses spread across the world, this would indicate a potential account takeover attempt.
- Leverage your security tools: Simply implementing multi-factor authentication can significantly deter threat actors from accessing your network, especially when securing APIs. Threat actors often quickly test for exposed APIs, so strengthening your defenses in this area can make a world of difference.
With heightened cyber activity, navigating high-traffic periods and promotional events presents significant challenges for both businesses and consumers. By understanding these risks and investing in comprehensive security solutions, businesses can protect their operations and safeguard their customers from cyber threats.
