"Holiday Shopping Disruption Beckons as Retail Bot Attacks Surge 13%"

Security experts at Imperva are warning of potential disruption to the upcoming holiday shopping season after recording a double-digit year-on-year increase in bot-driven cyberattacks so far in 2021.  The researchers found that half (57%) of attacks targeting retail websites this year were carried out by bots, versus just 33% across other industries.  Account takeover attempts, looking to hijack customers’ accounts to steal personal and financial info, reached 33% so far in 2021, versus 26% across other verticals.  The researchers stated that these attacks are usually carried out by “sophisticated” bots, capable of mimicking human mouse movements and clicks to defeat retailers’ cyber defenses.  The bots are responsible for account takeover and denial of inventory, where items are added to account baskets to take them out of circulation, making them unavailable for legitimate customers.  The researchers stated that this could exacerbate existing supply chain issues that threaten stock availability this holiday season.  The researchers also recorded a surge in DDoS attacks, including a 200% month-on-month increase in September 2021.  The researchers warned that as retailers build out their website functionality with chatbots and web analytics and connect customers via API to features such as product search and order fulfillment tracking, their cyberattack surface will continue to expand.

Infosecurity reports: "Holiday Shopping Disruption Beckons as Retail Bot Attacks Surge 13%"