WEB AND MOBILE FRAUD
New figures on level of retail cyber attacks
Retailers are responding to cyber attacks on average twice a week, according to new figures, with 16 per cent of those affected experiencing an attack or an attempt every day.
This is according to new research from Zynstra, which found that the incidence of cyber attacks was found to be especially high in the grocery industry with three in 10 respondents dealing with attempted security breaches every day, and 55 per cent every week.
In other retail verticals, 65 per cent of respondents in the sports and outdoor sector said they responded once a week, as did 49 per cent of fashion retailers and 40 per cent of department stores.
Nick East, CEO of Zynstra, said: “Taking care of a distributed branch network, from a maintenance and security point of view, can be extremely challenging. Looking at the high number of cyber attacks and attempted attacks shines light on the ongoing battles that retail IT is facing in terms of workload, particularly when it comes to security basics like patching and performing updates.”
This is reflected in the research, with 55 per cent of retailers applying security upgrades and patches across their branch network at least once a week; with 12 per cent doing it daily, and 77 per cent once a month. In addition, when asked about the frequency of backing up critical in-store data across their branch network, 75 per cent do so once a week, with almost half of respondents (46 per cent) doing it daily.
Despite the frequency of patching, applying updates and backups, only 33 per cent of retailers are very confident that their branch network is secure, with the major concerns being that back-up data will not be restored quickly enough in the event of a cyber event (37 per cent), and that patches and upgrades are not applied in a timely manner (22 per cent).
East concluded: “There is little doubt that IT teams are responding as best they can to mitigate the cyber threat, but despite their action, confidence in retail IT branch security remains a challenge. This lack of confidence points to the fact that a new approach is needed, one that takes the load off IT teams and increases assurance through the intelligent automation of processes required to keep branches secure.”
