It’s that time of year again! Black Friday’s back, along with bargain deals and unprecedented amounts of online shopping. Yet, the busy shopping season brings with it significant risk for consumers and businesses alike, as cyber experts have cautioned, from increased phishing attacks to too-good-to-be-true (decoy) deals. So, how can you be sure a good deal’s not a dodgy one and how can businesses protect both data and customers and make the most of the holiday season? We consulted the experts.
The retail threat landscape, on the whole, has become more complex in 2024. In the US, for example, the industry has become an even more lucrative target for cybercriminals. This year, the US retail sector has seen a significant rise in ransomware incidents, accounting for 45% of global retail ransomware cases (Q1-Q3, 2024), an increase of 9% from 2023, according to research by Cyberint, a Check Point Company. Further Check Point research has found that, in the weeks leading up to Black Friday, there’s been a surge in websites related to Black Friday, an increase 89% higher than the surge in the same period last year. Evidently, Black Friday is big business (but that goes without saying). What’s worrying about this stat is that nearly all of these sites impersonate well-known brands, and almost none are classified “safe.” Cybercriminals also see the opportunity that increased deal searching brings.
Impersonation sites are particularly worrying for consumers and a big risk for companies themselves. According to a blog posted by ..
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