For many businesses, Black Friday is one of the most anticipated shopping events of the year. It brings a surge in sales, new customers, and increased brand exposure. However, while the spotlight is on boosting revenue and driving traffic, the rise in online and in-store activity also makes this a prime target for cybercriminals. For SMBs, the stakes are even higher as they often lack the extensive resources of larger enterprises to defend against sophisticated attacks.
So, what can SMBs do to safeguard themselves during high-volume events like Black Friday? Whether it’s protecting against phishing attempts, fraud detection, or maintaining the security of point-of-sale (PoS) systems, a comprehensive approach is key to preventing disruptions and securing your business.
The heightened activity during Black Friday creates unique vulnerabilities that cybercriminals are quick to exploit. For example, the rush of transactions, increased number of customer queries, and temporary staff hires all contribute to a more chaotic environment, making it easier for attackers to slip through unnoticed.
Phishing Attacks: Cybercriminals often ramp up phishing attempts during busy periods, sending fake emails disguised as promotional offers or order confirmations to trick employees or customers into clicking malicious links.
Point-of-Sales (PoS) System Attacks: SMBs that operate physical stores need to be aware of PoS system vulnerabilities, where attackers can deploy malware to steal card data during transactions.
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks: The increased traffic to websites during high-volume events can make it easier for attackers to overwhelm servers, causing crashes or slowdowns that disrupt sales and customer service.
Payment and Return Fraud: With a higher volume of sales, fraudsters may take advantage of lenient return policies or use stolen card information to make purchases.
When it comes to preparing for high-traffic events like Black Friday, taking a proactive approach is essential. By strengthening your cybersecurity defences, protecting your PoS systems, preventing fraud, and preparing your IT infrastructure for increased activity, you can minimise your risk and ensure business continuity.
To stay one step ahead, make sure your cybersecurity defences are robust and up to date. Start by deploying a Web Application Firewall (WAF) to shield your website and applications from malicious traffic, like DDoS attacks or SQL injections. Enhanced authentication, such as multi-factor authentication (MFA), can also help safeguard internal systems and customer accounts by requiring an additional layer of verification.
Another crucial step is conducting phishing awareness training for your employees. With an uptick in phishing attempts during the holiday season, it’s important that everyone on your team can spot a suspicious email or link before it causes damage. And, of course, don’t forget to schedule a regular security audit before Black Friday. This audit can identify any weak points in your network, website, and payment systems, giving you time to fix them before the rush begins.
If your business operates a physical store, securing your Point-of-Sale (PoS) systems is just as important as fortifying your online presence. During Black Friday, attackers may target PoS systems to steal payment card information. To mitigate this risk, monitor your PoS systems for any unusual activity and ensure they are up to date with the latest security patches.
For your payment gateways, compliance with PCI-DSS standards is non-negotiable. This ensures that customer payment information is processed securely. You should also consider using tokenisation for transactions, which replaces sensitive card data with unique tokens that can’t be used outside of your system. This way, even if a breach occurs, the data remains protected.
Another tactic is to verify payment details more rigorously. Using Address Verification Service (AVS) and Card Verification Value (CVV) matching helps ensure that the card being used belongs to the customer making the purchase. You can also set transaction thresholds, where high-risk or high value transactions are flagged for manual review, reducing the risk of fraud.
There’s nothing worse than a website crash on the busiest shopping day of the year. To avoid this, make sure your IT infrastructure is ready to handle the surge in traffic. Opt for cloud hosting solutions that can scale on-demand to accommodate the extra load. Using a Content Delivery Network (CDN) is another way to distribute traffic globally and reduce the burden on your servers.
It's also a good idea to conduct load testing on your website and critical applications. This way, you’ll know exactly how much traffic your infrastructure can handle before it starts to struggle.
Consider these additional points to ensure all high traffic events, like Black Friday, run smoothly:
Prepare for Customer Service Overload:
High volume events like Black Friday can overwhelm customer service teams with inquiries, complaints, and refund requests. Consider temporarily expanding your customer support team or implementing AI-driven chatbots to manage common inquiries and reduce the load on human agents. Updating your FAQs and knowledge base can also help customers to resolve issues independently, minimising service tickets.
Clarify and Update Return Policies:
With the increase in sales comes a spike in returns and refund requests. Ensure your return and refund policies are clear, transparent, and easily accessible before customers complete a purchase. Establish reasonable return windows, especially during the festive season, when delays are more common, and implement systems to track return behaviour and flag suspicious activity.
Maintain Compliance with Legal and Regulatory Standards:
The higher transaction volume during Black Friday can put additional pressure on compliance with data privacy regulations like GDPR and PCI-DSS. Regular security and compliance audits can help identify any gaps before they become liabilities. Make sure your platform has proper consent mechanisms, and that personal data is handled securely, particularly when targeting customers from regions with stringent data privacy regulations.
And finally, set up redundancy and failover mechanisms – so if one server goes down, another can take over seamlessly.
Take proactive steps now to safeguard your business and ensure a seamless, secure experience for your customers.