Retailers, especially those whose businesses primarily depend on online interactions, are a prime target for a variety of attacks that span from the “standard” cyber-attacks, such as DDoS and ransomware, all the way to fraud scams and intellectual property (IP) infringement. There are a variety of potential cyber security attacks targeting the retail market, especially over the holiday season. These include third party vulnerabilities such as attacks on Point-Of-Sale terminals using malware, the insider threat, multiple ransomware attacks which go unreported, distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks and phishing campaigns. SEE ALSO: Arnault Castel of kapok on holiday retailing What makes the retail sector even more “special” is that cyber attacks are affecting their businesses first hand with IP Infringement acts, fraudulent scams and customer sentiment issues. To protect your business from cyber attacks, here are five tips to keep in mind:
1. Have an incident response plan
Your Incident Response Team should have an appointed executive to lead the crisis and deal with matters concerning the media and key customers.
2. Be proactive
Cyber-security organisations, like CyberInt, provide solutions like threat intelligence platforms which allow you to find out if you’re a target and when the attack might take place.
3. DDoS protection
DDoS attacks are increasing in sophistication and frequency, since these are relatively easy to execute. There are many types of DDoS attacks and most of them could be mitigated with a Content Distribution Network (CDN) service and some type of network upstream protection.
4. Monitor digital assets
Monitor your website and social media channels regularly through a real-time protection suite. Such tools allow you to continuously track your digital footprint for any type of malicious intent.
5. Prepare employees
Make sure your employees are aware of the threats lurking in the cyber realm and how to avoid becoming the next target. This is relatively simple to achieve through the use of training, awareness campaigns and various simulation tools that increase awareness in your organisation. Elad Ben Meir is the VP of Marketing at CyberInt — an evangelist of new products and technologies in the cybersecurity and IT space, and an adviser to companies from the likes of CyberX, Portnox, Layer8 and others.