It is a fact in times like Christmas the cyber attacks increase. Hackers find more alternatives and opportunities to carry out data theft, attacks against devices, networks … Now, everything indicates that this year all this is going to increase. There will be more attacks targeting online businesses. At least this is indicated by a report that we echo and explain in this article.
More attacks on online commerce at Christmas
This report has been produced by Imperva. They indicate that during the next Christmas they will increase attacks against electronic commerce. It is something common at this time every year and we have always seen it. Phishing attacks against users are increasing, attacks against web pages are also increasing and, ultimately, the risk when browsing and using online services.
But why are attacks on e-commerce websites especially going to increase this year? According to Imperva, the reason behind this increase is related to supply problems globally and shortage of certain products.
Keep in mind that the bot attacks Attacks against retail sites have already risen 13% year-to-date, in addition to 57% reported attacks on e-commerce websites. However, in the rest of the industries it has represented 33%.
One of the most dangerous attacks for an e-commerce website is DDoS. They are attacks that basically what they do is block the operation through multiple requests. What they are going to look for this Christmas is to generate chaos and problems in online commerce, something that will be aggravated due to the shortage of certain products and supply problems.
Let’s imagine that a certain web page offers technological products and they have stock problems. A user needs, for example, a router to arrive at his home by a specific date and has not been able to buy it before due to the lack of stock that we mentioned. Now, the day it is finally in stock, that store has suffered a DDoS attack and is not working. All the waiting that had already accumulated, now increases due to this problem that can cause an entire afternoon or a whole day to not work.
Profiting from chaos, the target of cybercriminals
From Imperva they assure that the only objective in this case by the hackers is benefit from chaos. They want to take advantage of the need of e-commerce websites and of the users themselves to buy products for this Christmas.
Ultimately, cyber attacks tend to focus on what is most used and where they can have higher probability of success. Therefore, what better way than to attack online commerce pages just at the time when they are going to sell the most. We have a tutorial where we explain some tips to protect an online store.
On the part of the users, we must purchase products and surf the net with total security. Common sense is essential, especially in these times when online shopping and attacks increase. We must avoid clicking on pages that may be unsafe, installing add-ons outside of official sites, etc.
