Protecting the Ecommerce Sector

The Growing Threat to the Retail and Ecommerce Sector

No retail business is too big or too small to consider its cyber security strategy, whether you have 50 customers or 100,000, the data you retain on your customers and staff is of huge value to a cybercriminal.

1 in 8 UK retailers faced a cyber-attack in the last 12 months*

Only 46% of retail businesses have a cyber strategy**

98% of UK businesses are now operational online

*, ** According to data published in a report by financial auditor, Grant Thornton

Cybercriminals are interested in the retail sector due to the customer data collected and stored online, particularly through online and e-commerce shopping platforms.

In the two years from March 2019 to March 2021, there was an 8% increase in the opening of retail businesses. And, with 98% of UK businesses now operational online in one way or another, benefiting hugely from the use of websites, social media, staff email addresses, online banking, and the ability for customers to shop online, it is no surprise that cybercrime has followed this trend upwards.

Types of cyber-attacks

Retail companies suffer as attacks are common on web applications such as an online payment system. Cyber attackers attempt to breach a payment system and install malicious code that can steal the users credit card details. This stolen data is either held for ransom by businesses or sold to other cybercriminals for profit.

Retail and ecommerce businesses are also facing cyber-attacks via their websites. These attacks often see websites go offline, resulting in a loss of sales and frustrated customers. Protecting your website from malicious bots is challenging. It requires an expert skillset from a specialist cybersecurity partner, such as Veracity Trust Network.

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How Veracity Trust Network has helped others in this sector

ViDrate are an ecommerce company that offers a range of hydration powders with added vitamins, electrolytes and zero sugar for people who struggle to drink plain water. With Veracity Trust Network’s Ad Fraud Prevention in place, ViDrate saw a 45% reduction in fraudulent traffic. Over a six month period, the results on Facebook and Google were noticeable very quickly and resulted in thousands more real people engaging. Veracity Trust Network saved ViDrate hours each month, by reducing the time spent pulling together data from multiple sources to create end-of-campaign reports.

Moneypenny is a B2B ecommerce service and is the #1 outsourced provider of brilliant customer conversations to over 21,000 businesses. Moneypenny added Veracity Trust Network’s Ad Fraud Prevention and during their initial two-week trial, the results were noticeable straight away with an increase in calls in both the UK and the US. Additionally, they got an increased quality leads and had a 41% reduction in cost per click. After a few weeks, Moneypenny were predicted to have the best leads against target ever.

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Examples of cyber attacks in the Ecommerce Sector

Data breaches don’t just hit small businesses with limited resources. Even some of the world’s biggest brands have been negatively impacted.

Adidas

The global shoe company has been hit hard in the past. In 2018, the company’s U.S. website was impacted with customer contact information exposed.

Mercari

Mercari is a Japanese e-commerce company that operates an online marketplace. In 2021, the company disclosed a major data breach incident.

“We massively weren’t aware of the level of bots we had and didn’t know we would be affected. The numbers were shocking!”

“We weren’t aware of how bad the bot problem was and didn’t think we would be affected. The extent of which we are was quite alarming. By having Veracity in place, we are getting our ads in front of more real people, and this shows in the results. “

Nick Hird, Co-founder at ViDrate

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To see how Veracity can help you

Malicious traffic around Black Friday

There were also increases in malicious bot behaviour over the Black Friday holiday sale period, with surges in traffic from non-human sources.

Black Friday has gained in popularity in the UK over recent years and with it has come an increase in the activity of bots both friendly and not so good.

The festive atmosphere is quite often accompanied by a surge of bot traffic alongside cyberattacks targeting consumers seeking attractive deals.

These bots can often have malicious intent, including hacking user accounts and causing extensive damage. The risks extend to both businesses and customers.

The three primary ways in which attackers access an organisation are stolen credentials, phishing and exploitation of vulnerabilities.

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