As the holiday shopping season approaches, retailers are grappling with an alarming rise in cyber-attacks driven by AI tools. A recent report from cybersecurity firm Imperva highlights that retail websites are experiencing an average of 569,884 AI-powered attacks each day. This surge in cyber-threats is attributed to the misuse of advanced AI technologies, including popular tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.
The report, which analyzed data from April to September 2024, indicates that cybercriminals are increasingly leveraging AI to enhance the scale and sophistication of their attacks. These attacks encompass a range of malicious activities, including business logic abuse, distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, and API violations.
AI-Driven Threat Landscape
The research identifies business logic abuse as the most prevalent form of AI-driven attack, accounting for 30.7% of all incidents. This type of attack involves exploiting legitimate features of applications and APIs to execute harmful actions, such as manipulating prices or bypassing authentication processes. The automation capabilities provided by AI make these exploits more challenging to detect.
DDoS attacks, which aim to overwhelm a website’s resources and cause downtime, represent 30.6% of the threats faced by retailers. Cybercriminals are now using AI to coordinate large botnets more effectively, increasing the impact of these attacks. The report emphasizes the need for retailers to invest in DDoS protection solutions that utilize machine learning to identify and mitigate malicious traffic in real time.
Bad bot attacks also pose a significant risk, accounting for 20.8% of AI-driven threats. These automated attacks engage in disruptive activities such as scraping pricing data and credential stuffing. The infamous Grinch bot, known for hoarding inventory during the holiday season, is one example of the challenges retailers face in ensuring product availability for consumers.
API violations are on the rise as well, making up 16.1% of AI-driven attacks. As eCommerce platforms expose APIs for mobile applications and third-party integrations, cybercriminals exploit vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access to sensitive data. The report underscores the importance of implementing strict authentication and authorization protocols to safeguard these APIs.
Retailers Urged to Strengthen Defenses
Nanhi Singh, General Manager of Application Security at Imperva, warns that the holiday shopping season represents a critical time for online retailers. With sales beginning as early as October and extending through late December, the increased activity attracts malicious actors who seek to exploit vulnerabilities during peak shopping periods. Singh stated, “Cybercriminals recognize this and are using generative AI tools and LLMs to capitalize on the increased volume of digital transactions.”
The report also highlights the potential consequences of successful cyberattacks, which can lead to identity theft, financial loss, and damage to retailers’ reputations. Sensitive personal information, including credit card details and addresses, is at heightened risk during these attacks. Singh emphasizes that retailers must adopt a comprehensive strategy to defend against these threats and respond swiftly without disrupting the shopping experience.
To combat these evolving threats, retailers are encouraged to implement a wide array of security measures. This includes employing anomaly detection systems to identify unusual activities, conducting regular audits of business processes, and utilizing bot management solutions that leverage behavioral analytics to differentiate between genuine users and sophisticated bots.
Of course not all retailers have the same resources to fight this new wave of threats. Nevertheless Singh stresses the need to be proactive: “Without robust defenses, retailers risk facing a perfect storm of AI-driven attacks that could disrupt operations”.
(Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash)
