Latest Retail Cybersecurity Statistics

Ransomware attacks have increased by 13% in the last five years, and 70% of ransomware incidents have targeted SMBs. Preventive measures include encrypting payment data, segmenting POS networks from other business systems, and continuously monitoring for suspicious activity that might signal a compromise. Attackers use malware to capture this information directly from POS memory or intercept it during transactions.

Strong fraud prevention strategies have become essential for protecting customer data, customer relationships, and revenue. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center reported $16 billion in losses for 2024, a 33% increase from the $12.5 billion reported in 2023. While at MURTEC 2023, RETHINK Retail and Top Retail Influencer Courtney Radke, Field CISO at Fortinet, spoke with several exhibitors to learn more about some of the explosive and dynamic trends that are driving the future of retail technology. Retail organizations can also enjoy simplified management, maximum uptime, increased security, and better user experience at a lower cost – which all leads to an improved customer experience. In today’s dynamic retail sector, implementing comprehensive and cohesive protection in today’s evolving hybrid infrastructures is crucial. Eliminate technology spend that does not add value or match business strategy.

• Join this live webinar as we break down why email-layer defenses alone can’t keep pace with the modern phishing ecosystem, how agentic AI is changing the capacity equation for security teams, and more.
• When a cyberattack disrupts a retailer’s supply chain, the damage extends well beyond delayed shipments and lost revenue.
• According to PureCyber, retail cyber attacks increased 34% in 2025 compared to 2024 figures.
• Typically, we have a process that we go through with new technology suppliers where we’re assessing their security capabilities and posture.
• Cybercriminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated, making retail a prime target for cyberattacks.

The company assured affected people that the stolen data was erased after the breach, which was believed to be a ransomware attack. In 2024, 60% of all breaches involved a human element—primarily stolen credentials obtained through social engineering—though this share has declined slightly over the last few years as other attack vectors have grown. Every minute of downtime during peak traffic translates directly into lost revenue and frustrated customers. Between April and September 2024, retailers faced over 560,000 AI-driven automated attacks per day—a category that includes fraudulent purchase attempts, account takeover efforts, and DDoS campaigns. Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks happen when attackers flood websites with https://synapsewaves.com/articles/retail-reshaped-post-amazon-era/ traffic using botnets (connections of infected machines), creating downtime and revenue loss. Implementing strong account security practices across your organization significantly reduces the likelihood that a phishing email will lead to a full breach.

Expert Insights

Threats include database injections, session hijacking, and account takeovers. Attackers often target small service providers with weaker defenses to https://drpostdoc.com/what-to-do-and-what-not-to-do-about-lighting-of-retail-displays/ reach larger partners upstream. Companies using AI-enhanced defenses report millions in cost savings. The damage extends far beyond ransom payments — downtime during peak sales seasons can cost millions in lost transactions and customer trust. Criminals impersonate suppliers, shipping partners, or executives to manipulate staff into revealing credentials or transferring funds.

• Bot attacks during “Black Friday” are 3x higher than a typical day in the retail industry
• Social engineering, phishing, insider threats and ransomware are some of the cyberattacks that cybercriminals use to target small businesses.
• Fewer than 150,000 accounts had date of birth details compromised, the company said.
• The result was arguably the largest global information technology outage in history.
• Retailers experience an average of 4 successful social engineering breaches annually

CISOs Reveal Biggest Challenges for Security Teams

The growth of omnichannel retail has increased this dependency. Any disruption during these periods can result in substantial revenue losses within hours. Few industries experience the same level of pressure to maintain continuous operations. While this connectivity improves efficiency, it also increases cyber security risk. Retail businesses also process thousands or even millions of payment transactions every day. Retailers routinely collect names, addresses, email accounts, phone numbers, payment information and purchase histories.

• That kind of intentional investment helps make an organization more sticky – because we want to retain people and for them to grow their career with us.
• In 2024, 60% of all breaches involved a human element—primarily stolen credentials obtained through social engineering—though this share has declined slightly over the last few years as other attack vectors have grown.
• The brokerage initiated shares of Zscaler, Inc. (ZS), CyberArk Software, Inc. (CYBR) and SentinelOne, Inc. (S) with ‘Overweight’ ratings, The Fly reported.
• According to the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, 60% of breaches involved human elements like credential abuse, falling for social engineering scams, and interacting with malware.

Koko Networks administrators begin sale of collapsed clean cooking startup’s assets

Malware is malicious software designed to damage or gain unauthorized access to a network or computer system. Today, hacking is among the major cyber security concerns, with cyber criminals mostly exploiting vulnerabilities in a system or codebase. First, let’s take a look at some general trends within the cyber security industry.