Avoid Cyberattacks! Check Out 5 Tips to Protect Yourself This Black Friday
Cyberattacks are increasingly affecting e-commerce sites. Read the article to learn how to protect yourself in 5 steps.
Cyberattacks often escalate during holiday periods, especially those involving high e-commerce traffic, such as Black Friday. These attacks can range from database breaches to complete service disruptions, demonstrating the increasing evolution, complexity, and intensity of cyber threats.
For example, a survey by the analytics company Boa Vista revealed that revenue from e-commerce sales on Black Friday 2022 grew by 60% compared to the same period in 2021.
During high e-commerce periods, there is more sharing of data and digital financial transactions, which attracts cybercriminals. Reflecting this, Fortinet's study identified a 61.7% increase in cyberattack attempts in the last quarter of 2022 (during Black Friday and Christmas) compared to the previous quarter.
Given this context, it is clear that focusing on prevention to avoid cyberattacks is the best alternative.
Investing in cybersecurity from the outset, with specific strategies for each business structure, is essential.
Want to know how to avoid security incidents during the most lucrative e-commerce period? Then, follow this article as we cover the concept of digital security and explain how to protect yourself during Black Friday and prevent data breaches.
Cyberattacks in E-commerce Internet security has always been a point of concern for those working in the digital business environment. However, with the increase in online exposure, it has become a significant challenge for organizations.
E-commerce, websites, apps, and platforms are common targets for cybercriminals—particularly those seeking to collect customer data.
The complex and distributed nature of retail attracts malicious users who can exploit vulnerabilities to invade systems.
Data theft and sales operation shutdowns are some of the consequences of cyberattacks, often reported in major newspapers. Depending on the actions taken by the brand, these attacks impact not only current customers but also potential consumers.
To avoid such situations, it is necessary to implement precautions like installing software, educating employees, and investing in Bug Bounty programs—which we will cover soon in the text.
Moreover, whereas these threats were once concentrated on computers, today mobile phones and even Internet of Things (IoT) devices serve as entry points. A simple email or SMS can carry a malicious link.
The Importance of Data Security During Black Friday Even before the digital transformation, e-commerce suffered from cyberattacks, but as mentioned earlier, this has intensified.
One major factor for this increase is that actions in our country are often reactive rather than proactive. In other words, internet security considerations typically arise only after an attack or system breach.
This practice is detrimental but extremely common among small and medium businesses that focus their investments on business growth rather than security measures.
However, prevention is essential in a high-threat environment, as no company is immune to cybercriminal attacks.
How LGPD Can Aid E-commerce Security The General Data Protection Law (LGPD) aims to preserve citizens' privacy rights. Its implementation established rules for any company that collects, stores, and shares customer data.
During high-traffic periods like holidays, LGPD, combined with effective information security practices, ensures the full respect for user privacy and protection from violations.
Therefore, it is important for e-commerce businesses to comply with data protection regulations during Black Friday, as this is a period with a high volume of data flow, increasing the chances of errors and potential LGPD penalties, which can reach up to R$ 50 million.
In e-commerce, data collection is crucial, whether for understanding the audience, contacting them, or sending notifications about new products and promotions.
Everything clear so far? Now let’s get to the most interesting part of the article; here are 5 essential tips to avoid cyberattacks during Black Friday:
- Educate Your Team
Data protection during Black Friday also depends on those who handle the data—your team.
It’s important to highlight that, with increased access, the rate of cyberattacks can rise significantly, by up to 30%.
Months before major holidays, plan workshops, seminars, etc., to prepare your team, from technical support to digital customer service channels and social media monitoring.
This ensures that collected data will be handled properly.
- Governance and Data Protection
Assessing data quality and protection is crucial for preventing cyberattacks. This requires a governance policy: creating policies, guidelines, and processes to ensure precise data handling and risk mitigation.
To manage data effectively and keep records updated and accurate, evaluate:
- What data the company handles;
- Where this data is stored;
- Who has access.
Following these measures, impact and risk assessments can be conducted, and control measures can be confirmed and implemented.
- Encrypt Sensitive Data Don’t delay:
encrypt your data before the holiday season.
This is a secure and somewhat common method in personal data protection, reducing the chances of breaches and fines that the law might impose.
- Frequent Updates and System
Backups Regular system check-ups, updates, and multiple audits are necessary. This allows for more accurate detection of potential risks to the company and its data.
Another important aspect of security is having an updated cloud backup. This can be crucial for saving your company from incidents.
Besides the risk of data ransom, having backups helps in identifying lost/breached data more quickly, facilitating a swift response.
- Invest in Bug Bounty If you work with e-commerce, you need to know about this practice!
Growing rapidly in the digital market, Bug Bounty is an effective practice. Based on a reward program, information security experts are authorized to access the company’s systems and networks to find potential flaws and vulnerabilities that could facilitate cybercriminal activities.
When a threat is detected, a report is made and delivered to the company’s information security team, facilitating the development of methods to eliminate these bugs.
After this action, the expert receives a reward for their search efforts.
No cyberattacks, no losses: trust Brazil's #1 Bug Bounty platform! Don’t follow the crowd and postpone your company’s data security.
You can count on BugHunt to help! We are Brazil’s first Bug Bounty platform, having reported over 4,000 vulnerabilities to partner companies and helping strengthen their system security.
Don’t let cyberattacks cause losses—get ahead, and explore our platform!