As the holiday season approaches, retail businesses are gearing up for their annual surge in online and in-store traffic. Unfortunately, this increase in activity also attracts cybercriminals looking to exploit vulnerabilities for their gain. Imperva, a Thales company, recently published its annual holiday shopping cybersecurity guide. Data from the Imperva Threat Research team’s six-month analysis (April 2024 – September 2024) revealed that AI-driven threats need to be top of mind for retailers this year. As generative AI tools and large language models (LLMs) become more widespread and advanced, cybercriminals are increasingly leveraging these technologies to scale and refine their attacks on eCommerce platforms. Imperva Threat Research also found that retail sites collectively experience an average of 569,884 AI-driven attacks each day. Understanding what types of threats are accounting for these attacks, and how to protect against them, is critical for retail businesses to protect their company and customers this holiday season.
1. Prepare for Increased Online Traffic
Retail businesses must prepare for a surge in online visitors as the holiday shopping season gains momentum. This influx in visitors can strain website infrastructure, leading to potential performance issues and downtime if not adequately managed. Retailers should take proactive measures to ensure their systems can handle the increased load without compromising the user experience. This begins with scaling servers to accommodate higher traffic volumes and prevent bottlenecks that can lead to slowdowns or crashes. Utilizing a content delivery network (CDN) is another essential step; CDNs help distribute web traffic more efficiently, reducing latency and ensuring that users, regardless of their geographic location, experience speedy access to website content.
Moreover, implementing a waiting room queuing system is a practical way to manage traffic flow during peak times. This system prevents the website from becoming overwhelmed by temporarily holding users in a virtual queue, allowing only a manageable number of visitors to access the site at any given time. By doing so, retailers can maintain a fair and smooth shopping experience for legitimate users, avoiding frustration and potential lost sales due to site unavailability.
2. Create a Bot Management Plan
Developing a comprehensive bot management strategy is vital for retailers during the holiday season, as malicious bots often accompany the influx of genuine shoppers. Bots can perform various malicious activities, such as scraping price data, launching credential stuffing attacks, and creating fake accounts. To protect their platforms and ensure a seamless shopping experience for real customers, retailers must evaluate traffic risks and identify entry points that bots might exploit. Blocking outdated user agents, which bots often use, is a practical first step. Additionally, limiting proxies can help reduce the number of anonymous requests hitting the site, making it harder for bots to operate undetected.
Implementing rate limiting is another crucial measure; by setting limits on the number of requests a user or IP address can make within a certain timeframe, retailers can prevent bots from overwhelming their systems. Monitoring for signs of automation or headless browsers indicates bot activity and enables retailers to take swift action. Sophisticated bot management tools that use machine learning can help differentiate between genuine users and malicious bots, ensuring that legitimate traffic flows unhindered.
3. Guard Against Business Logic Exploitation
Business logic abuse was identified as the most common AI-driven attack on retail sites, accounting for 30.7% of all attacks. Business logic abuse occurs when cybercriminals exploit the intended functionality of an application to achieve unauthorized outcomes. For example, they may manipulate promotional codes or exploit return policies to obtain goods or services at a lower price. The danger of this threat is multiplied by AI’s ability to analyze patterns in user behavior and identify potential loopholes. As attackers use AI to devise more effective exploitation strategies, retailers must implement stringent controls to monitor and validate user actions on their platforms.
Retailers should enforce strict validation on all user inputs to protect against business logic exploitation. Using anomaly detection systems to spot unusual activities can help identify patterns indicative of such abuse, enabling swift response measures. Regular audits of business processes are critical, as they can uncover potential vulnerabilities that criminals might exploit. Without these protective measures, businesses risk substantial financial losses and damage to their reputation. Retailers must remain vigilant and proactive in their efforts to combat this pervasive threat.
4. Invest in a DDoS Protection Solution
Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks remain a persistent threat to online retailers, especially during peak shopping periods like the holiday season. These attacks aim to overwhelm website resources, leading to downtime and, consequently, lost sales and reputational harm. DDoS attacks have become increasingly sophisticated, with cybercriminals leveraging AI to orchestrate complex attacks that can evade traditional defenses. The financial impact of a successful DDoS attack can be staggering, with businesses facing revenue loss, increased recovery costs, and potential long-term damage to their brand reputation.
To combat this threat, retailers must invest in robust DDoS mitigation solutions that employ machine learning to identify and neutralize malicious traffic in real time. These solutions can distinguish between legitimate customer traffic and malicious bots, ensuring that genuine users can access the site without interruption. Additionally, retailers should implement multi-layered DDoS defenses, combining network-level and application-level protection to thwart various attack vectors.
5. Secure APIs
As the holiday season nears, retail businesses are preparing for the annual surge in both online and in-store traffic. Unfortunately, this increase in activity also draws the attention of cybercriminals seeking to exploit vulnerabilities for their gain. Imperva, a company under Thales, has recently released its annual holiday shopping cybersecurity guide. According to six months of data analyzed by the Imperva Threat Research team (from April 2024 to September 2024), AI-driven threats are a crucial concern for retailers this year. With the growing prevalence and sophistication of generative AI tools and large language models (LLMs), cybercriminals are increasingly using these technologies to enhance and scale their attacks on eCommerce platforms. The research highlighted that retail sites collectively face an average of 569,884 AI-driven attacks daily.
For retail businesses, understanding the nature of these threats and adopting measures to protect against them is essential to safeguard both their company and their customers during this busy holiday season.
