For consumer-facing e-businesses, trust and safety must govern the user experience, not loss prevention.’ – Jonathan Care, Senior Director Analyst at Gartner.
Deloitte predicts that 2020’s holiday e-commerce sales will surge by 25% to 35%, amounting to between $182 billion and $196 billion. Consumers still spend most of their time at home, avoiding public places.
A lot, if not most, will go towards online shopping. 75% of consumers say they will do at least some of their holiday shopping online, while 43% of shoppers plan to shop exclusively online this holiday season. This lip-smacking news has a side effect for online retailers – will their network and data security hold up?
How Confident Are Retailers About Online Performance and Security?
Most retailers focus on point-of-sale malware, and credit card data security and DDoS are often an afterthought. However, 33% of all cyberattacks on retailers come from DDoS, making it the most common digital threat the sector currently faces. As the season nears, there is a strong possibility that DDoS hackers are fine-tuning their attack strategies to welcome the festive season in their way, as this recent ominous message indicates, “…your websites and other connected services will be unavailable for everyone. Please also note that this will severely damage your reputation among your customers. We will destroy your reputation and make sure your services remain offline until you pay.”
The above is an excerpt from the ransom note that hackers sent out to e-commerce and finance victims through emails that warn of DDoS attacks unless the demanded ransom is paid in Bitcoin within the specified time frame.
Organized Cyber-crime
While in the past, DDoS attacks were primarily used for pranks and petty mischief, it is now increasingly used by organized cyber-criminals to threaten retailers’ operational and financial security. When executing a DDoS attack, hackers set their sights on any organization that relies heavily on its website to generate revenue. This makes online retailers ideal targets. Launching attacks are cheap, and hackers can launch large volumetric DDoS attacks. How will the retailer’s IT distinguish between good traffic and a DDoS attack, especially since they expect high traffic now?
Along with volumetric attacks, hackers could launch low-threshold, sub-saturating DDoS attacks, using these as smokescreens for breaches, such as data theft or installation of malware or ransomware.
However, the biggest challenge for retailers regarding online security is staffing. A recent survey indicates that 44% of respondents stated staffing as one of their biggest security challenges.
With all these challenges, how can online businesses find a model that combines safety with seamless customer experience?
According to Gartner, there is a need for a strong commitment to prioritizing safety and trust to ensure that the customer experience is slick and secure. In the case of DDoS attack prevention, solutions such as DDoS mitigation automatically come to mind to prevent attacks that can interfere with the security and customer experience. However, even with the most sophisticated DDoS mitigation and DDoS testing deployed, most companies are left with a staggering 48% DDoS vulnerability level.
This gap allows damaging DDoS traffic to penetrate the target network, causing system disruption and downtime.
RADAR™ closes the gap by working as a non-disruptive top layer on any DDoS Mitigation system. Bringing down the vulnerability gap to under 2%. RADAR™, MazeBolt’s new patented technology solution, is part of the MazeBolt security platform. RADAR™ simulates DDoS attacks continuously and non-disruptively. Delivering advanced intelligence through straightforward reports on how to remediate the DDoS vulnerabilities found. With RADAR™, organizations achieve, maintain, and verify the continuous closing of their DDoS vulnerability gaps.
To summarize, RADAR™ ensures that your website is online continuously, offering customers a seamless online shopping experience even at the busiest times.
About MazeBolt
Israel-based MazeBolt is an innovation leader in cybersecurity with over two decades of experience in pioneering DDoS protection solutions. The company’s new flagship product, RADAR™, is a patented technology. It offers DDoS protection through automated DDoS simulations on live production with zero downtime. It works in conjunction with any mitigation solution installed. Its unique capabilities have ensured business continuity and the entire DDoS security posture for enterprises worldwide, including Fortune 1000 & NASDAQ-listed companies.
References:
- https://premierconstructionnews.com/2019/09/19/ddos-attacks-on-retailers-are-getting-sneaky-its-time-to-rethink-your-denial-of-service-protection/
- https://go.forrester.com/blogs/retailers-prepare-wisely-ddos-remains-a-holiday-threat/
- https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/15/deloitte-estimates-2020-holiday-retail-sales-will-rise-1-to-1point5percent-.html
- https://newsroom.accenture.com/news/most-us-shoppers-want-retailers-to-close-on-thanksgiving-day-accenture-survey-reveals.htm
