The holiday shopping season is prime time for cyberattacks. Higher online traffic, distracted shoppers, and quick-purchase behavior make it easier for cybercriminals to strike. Whether your customers are retailers, service providers, or local businesses, staying on top of transactions is so critical.

Below is a quick guide on the top cybersecurity risks small businesses face before the holiday shopping season (and all year long)—and what they can do to protect themselves and their customers.

Protect customer data

• • Hackers target businesses during peak shopping spikes to steal information such as names, emails, passwords, and payment details.
  • Encourage customers to use strong, unique passwords.
  • Businesses should also use secure, PCI-compliant payment processors (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards).

Prevent payment fraud

• • Fraud attempts skyrocket as more consumers input card information, and businesses are busy.
  • Businesses should monitor unusual purchasing patterns.
  • Use tokenization and secure gateways like Stripe, Shopify Pay, or PayPal.
  • Remind customers to never enter payment info through suspicious email, text, and social links that do not come directly from the brand itself.

Educate on email and social scams

• • Holiday-themed scams (“Your order is delayed!”, “Exclusive holiday deal!” “A New Year’s gift just for you!”) are extremely convincing.
  • Businesses should enable email filters.
  • Businesses should let their customers know that they never request sensitive info by email/text/social and encourage them to check message authenticity.

Stay on top of current updates

• • Holiday rush means delayed updates—which attackers exploit.
  • Update POS (point-of-sale) software and hardware immediately.
  • Remove outdated, unused plugins.

Ensure backup and recovery plans are in place

• • Ransomware attacks increase 30%+ during peak shopping windows.
  • Back up systems on a normal basis to a secure, offsite location.
  • Have an incident response plan ready.

Cyber insurance

• • Cyberattacks can be expensive. A strong cyber liability policy should include:
    • Data breach response
    • Business interruption coverage
    • Ransomware/extortion protection
    • Fraud and social engineering
    • Third-party liability

This is a good time of year to review policy limits and ensure adequate coverage for higher holiday traffic.

LocalEdge Can Help With Your Cyber Coverage
LocalEdge can help with the right coverage for you and your customers. By taking proactive cybersecurity precautions, companies can protect customer trust, keep operations running smoothly, and avoid costly disruptions.

Learn More
Contact our team of brokers who can help you with your customers’ cyber security needs.

Get an online quote
Call us at 800.444.1744, Option 1, 4
Email us at [email protected]