Black Friday and Cyber Monday Security implications for Irish businesses

Black Friday and Cyber Monday have grown to become two of the busiest shopping days of the years, especially as you can get some of your Christmass shopping done early at bargain prices.

But what are the security implications for Irish Businesses, according to Daren Howell, business continuity expert at Sungard Availability Services:

“Customers now demand a quick and easy online purchasing experience. However, seasonal peaks – such as the huge spike in web traffic during Black Friday & Cyber Monday – can overload servers, causing outages and frustrated, unhappy customers.”

Daren Howell.

“Not only this but it is also a prime target for hackers, using the peak in traffic to mask malicious behaviour. Though consumers are being offered countless tips on how to keep their details as safe as possible, it is a retailer’s responsibility to keep customer data as safe as possible. We recently conducted research which found that security was the number one priority for over a third of IT decision makers in Ireland, but with the looming GDPR more should be prioritising this.”

 “These peak seasons can account for a significant proportion of a retailer’s’ annual turnover, so any compromise of a customer’s details could spell disaster for the rest of the festive season.”