Retail and E-Commerce

Retail and e-commerce remain a high priority for hackers.

During the last holiday season, Bad bot traffic reportedly increased by 50% during a recent holiday shopping season, highlighting the growing threat of automated attacks. This has resulted in higher costs for each retail data breach, reaching $2.96 million in 2023, and the industry's ranking as a target increased from 10th to 8th.

Cybercriminals employ increasingly advanced techniques, moving beyond basic malware to more complex attacks like AI-driven phishing and business logic abuse.  

Ransomware attacks have become a major concern, with a significant percentage of retail companies experiencing them and a large portion leading to successful data encryption. The average cost of a retail data breach has also risen.  

GuardTower is the best cybersecurity tool that can significantly enhance proactive threat detection for retailers and e-commerce businesses. By deploying a network of AI Decoys, Strongpoint policy tools, and Strikeforce alerting system, it creates a deceptive, detection, and deterrence environment that attracts cyber attackers while alerting security teams to gain valuable insights into their tactics, intentions, and TIME to reach before they target real systems and customer data.1

Here's how GuardTower can help with proactive threat detection in the retail and e-commerce sector:

Early Detection of Malicious Activity:

  • Luring Attackers: GuardTower's AI-driven container Decoys mimic vulnerable systems and services commonly found in retail and e-commerce environments, such as web servers, databases, point-of-sale (POS) systems, and e-commerce platforms. Attackers scanning for vulnerable targets are likely to interact with these decoys.

  • Suspicious Activity Alerts: Any interaction with an AI Decoy is inherently suspicious, as legitimate traffic should not be directed to these isolated systems. GuardTower generates high-fidelity alerts for even initial reconnaissance attempts, providing early warnings of potential attacks.

Example: If an AI Decoy emulating a web server used for an e-commerce site receives unusual requests from a specific IP address, it could indicate an attacker probing for vulnerabilities like SQL injection or cross-site scripting (XSS). AI Strongpoint matches these activities to the MITRE ATT&CK and NIST frameworks to analyze data to validate threat activity, while AI Strikeforce provides intelligent alerts to the security teams.

Gathering Actionable Threat Intelligence:

  • Attacker Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs): By observing attackers interacting with the AI Decoys, retailers can gain firsthand knowledge of the tools, exploits, and methods being used to target systems like theirs. This intelligence is invaluable for understanding the current threat landscape.

  • Identifying Attack Vectors: GuardTower can reveal the specific pathways attackers are trying to exploit to gain access to systems and data, whether it's through web application vulnerabilities, compromised APIs, or attempts to brute-force credentials. AI Strikeforce captures these details and forwards the exact location, IP, and attempts made to the security team.

  • Understanding Attacker Motives: Analyzing the attackers' actions on the AI Decoys can provide clues about their objectives, such as stealing customer payment information, exfiltrating personal data, disrupting online services, or planting ransomware.

Example: If an attacker successfully exploits a vulnerability in an AI Decoy simulating an e-commerce platform and attempts to access customer databases, security teams can analyze the commands they use to understand their data theft techniques.

Proactive Security Posture Improvement:

  • Vulnerability Identification: Attack attempts on the AI Decoys can highlight potential weaknesses in the simulated systems and services. Retailers can use this information to proactively audit and patch similar vulnerabilities in their live production environments, reducing their attack surface.

  • Refining Security Controls: The insights gained from GuardTower can inform the tuning and optimization of existing security controls, such as intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS), web application firewalls (WAFs), and security information and event management (SIEM) systems, making them more effective at detecting and blocking real attacks.

  • Incident Response Preparedness: The data collected from GuardTower can be used to create realistic attack scenarios for incident response training exercises, allowing security teams to practice their procedures and improve their readiness to handle actual security incidents.

Example: If GuardTower detects repeated attempts to exploit a specific vulnerability in a simulated POS system, the retail security team can prioritize patching that vulnerability across all their physical store locations.

Comprehensive and Customizable Solution:

  • Variety of AI Decoys: GuardTower integrates numerous AI Decoy technologies, allowing retailers to deploy a diverse range of decoys that accurately reflect their IT infrastructure and e-commerce ecosystem.

  • Centralized Management and Analysis: GuardTower provides a centralized platform for managing and monitoring all deployed AI Decoys, as well as tools for analyzing the collected data through visualizations and reporting, making it easier to identify and understand threats.

Specific Benefits for Retail and E-commerce:

  • Protection of Customer Data: By proactively identifying threats targeting sensitive customer information like payment details and personal data, GuardTower helps retailers prevent costly data breaches and maintain customer trust.

  • Ensuring Business Continuity: Early detection of attacks aimed at disrupting online services or POS systems allows retailers to take timely action to prevent or minimize downtime, ensuring business continuity and protecting revenue streams.

  • Combating E-commerce Fraud: GuardTower can help detect fraudulent activities like account takeovers, payment fraud, and scraping attempts by luring attackers targeting these areas.

  • Supply Chain Security Insights: For retailers with complex supply chains, GuardTower can be configured to mimic systems used by suppliers, providing early warnings of potential attacks that could impact the entire supply chain.

In conclusion, GuardTower serves as a valuable proactive threat detection tool for retailers and e-commerce businesses by providing early warnings, actionable threat intelligence, and insights into attacker behavior. This enables them to strengthen their security posture, protect critical assets and customer data, and improve their overall resilience against cyber threats.