According to Imperva, online retailers are facing a significant threat in the form of automated attacks on their application business logic. These attacks are carried out by sophisticated individuals and are considered the leading threat in the industry. In addition to business logic attacks, there are other risks that retailers must be aware of, including account takeover, API abuse, and client-side attacks.
Cybercriminals are motivated to compromise user accounts in order to gain access to personal data and payment information. Security incidents during the shopping season can result in higher costs and degraded services for retailers. Imperva emphasizes that the security risks faced by the retail industry are becoming increasingly sophisticated and challenging to detect.
In the past year, business logic attacks have been the most common type of attack on retail sites. Unlike attacks that exploit technical vulnerabilities, these attacks exploit the intended functionality of applications or APIs. The frequency of these attacks has increased due to the growing volume of API traffic to retail sites. Furthermore, the majority of business logic attacks are now automated and primarily focused on exploiting API connections.
A concerning trend is the rise of advanced bots, which are more difficult to detect and stop. These bots now account for more than 50% of bad bot traffic on retail sites. This highlights the need for retailers to implement robust security measures to counteract these advanced threats.
During the 2022 holiday shopping season, incidents of account takeover also saw an uptick, posing a persistent threat to e-commerce. Additionally, client-side security threats such as Magecart and formjacking are prevalent. These threats involve the injection of malicious JavaScript into legitimate websites' code, compromising the security of unsuspecting users.
Imperva's findings underscore the importance for online retailers to prioritize their cybersecurity efforts. The ever-evolving nature of cyber threats requires constant vigilance and proactive measures to effectively protect user accounts, sensitive data, and overall business operations.The upcoming holiday shopping season of 2023 is expected to witness a surge in attacks targeting online retailers. Due to their substantial resource load per site, online retail platforms are more susceptible to compromise compared to other industries. Once unauthorized access is gained by attackers, they can exploit advanced automation techniques to track mouse movements, pilfer cookies, and impersonate users, thereby leading to severe data breaches. The primary focus of these attacks has now shifted towards disrupting or temporarily taking applications offline, especially at the application layer.
Recent statistics indicate a noticeable rise in malicious bot attacks specifically on retail websites, with the United States and France being the most affected regions. This mounting trend of automated attacks is anticipated to persist during high-profile shopping events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. There exist concerns regarding the involvement of "Grinch bots" during these occasions, which aim to disrupt holiday sales events and product launches. Additionally, this year has observed an increased number of application layer attacks compared to the same period in the previous year. This signifies a concerning pattern where cybercriminals are escalating their attacks at the onset of the holiday shopping season.
