The cyber threat landscape is evolving rapidly and becoming more and more of an issue for the retail sector, a new report reveals.
2017 showed a series of unrelenting high-profile cyber attacks, with data breaches costing companies like Uber and Carphone Warehouse hundreds of thousands to millions of pounds in addition to the huge reputational and brand damages.
While internet-connected devices offer to simplify and enhance retail operations, the security risks they pose is growing at a corresponding pace, giving hackers rich ground for exploitation and, turning connected devices into gates for Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.
The 13th Annual Arbor Worldwide Infrastructure Security Report (WISR) reveals that 57% of enterprises and 45% of data centre operators saw their internet bandwidth saturated as a result f DDoS attacks and there were 7.5 million DDoS attacks in 2017.
Fifty-seven per cent cited reputation/brand damage as the main business impact, with operational expenses second and 56% experienced a financial impact between $10,000 and $100,000 (almost double the proportion from 2016).
The WISR survey data is based upon 390 responses from a mix of Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 service providers, hosting, mobile, enterprise and other types of network operators from around the world. Two-thirds of all respondents identify as security, network or operations professionals.