Cybercrime on the rise as online holiday spending increases

Online payments are expected to make up 12 percent of the overall online spend in the UK in December as the festive period approaches.

The Payments Council has predicted that a total of £82.7 billion ($133 billion) will be spent in the UK in the month of December, a 1.2 per cent increase from the same period last year.

Around £10 billion of this total spend will be made up of consumers using their cards to make online purchases, representing a 15 per cent jump on last year’s figures and a 495 per cent surge on the statistics from ten years ago.

As more and more people move online to buy goods it is vital brands are aware of the dangers posed to them and their customers.

In the holiday season consumer spend increases, and with it comes a rise in the number of phishing attacks from cyber criminals looking to steal the personal information of those making purchases.

According to market research company Forrester, a record $78.7 billion will be spent in US through online shopping this holiday season, a 15 per cent rise on what was spent in 2012.

The firm predicts that 167 million shoppers will use the internet to buy presents, gadgets, and goods in the holiday season.

With Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the busiest online shopping days of the year, rapidly approaching it is important that brands are ready to protect against the threat of cyber attacks.

Phishing is a common threat at all times of the year, but as consumer spending increases over the holiday period, so does the frequency of attacks.

Brands can use authentication, monitoring and fast takedown services to meet security needs, ensuring the brand is protected and customers can shop online in the confidence their sensitive information is safe and secure.

Technology such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Extended Validation (EV) SSL can become critical to protect a business from phishing attacks and other forms of cybercrime as they can encrypt sensitive information and authenticate a site.  In addition, Registry Locks offer the lock down of the domain name servers which have been proven to stand up to the ever sophisticated hijacking attempts.

It is important for a company to have these measures in place, as a failure to do so can lead to a successful attack, which has a range of consequences. A drop in online revenues and/or usage due to decreased customer trust may occur, as well as the potential for non-compliance fines from data authorities if customer information is compromised.