Due to significant and painful breaches in recent years, it is now vital that the retail industry is aware of cyber security threats which could compromise business. Recently, our partner, SonicWall, released its 2017 Annual Threat Report, detailing the biggest cyber security trends retailers faced last year. Some of the key findings are summarised below...
These enhanced security measures caused POS malware creation to decline drastically. This was a great achievement, but it doesn't mean retailers should let their guard down.
Retailers should be aware of a popular type of malware that plagued businesses in 2016: ransom ware. Ransom ware locks down systems until compensation is paid to regain access. Retailers profit can be affected by downtime of their e-commerce websites so therefore cyber criminals are more interested in violating retailers.
Cyber offenders hacked thousands of security cameras and other IoT equipment to launch the largest DDoS attacks in the history of 2016. This invasion caused major retail sites from being accessed by customers, including Starbucks, Etsy and Overstock.com. These attacks are likely to continue to plague retailers in 2017 for the same reason as ransomware.
Retailers have used Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security encryption to secure customer data via online purchases. This security measure has become frequent for businesses of all types. While encryption makes it harder for criminals to hijack customers' payment information, it can also provide a back door into the network which cyber criminals can exploit to sneak in malware. It is recommended that retailers ensure their firewalls are capable of deep packet inspection (DPI).
If you want any more information on this and how to protect yourself, please contact Core today here.