The Lessons We Can Learn from a Recent Cyber-Attack on a Global Fashion Brand

Lessons for Retail Businesses

There are a number of lessons that retail businesses can learn from the sophisticated cyber-attack launched on the global fashion brand. Here are some of the key take homes:

• Prevention is better than cure. When it comes to cyber-attacks, prevention is always better than cure. This is especially true of ransomware attacks, which have the potential to cause massive amounts of financial, operational and reputational damage. Most ransomware payloads are delivered by email; by providing cybersecurity training that teaches users what to look for and best practices when they receive a suspicious email, you reduce the risk of a ransomware attack being successful and damaging your business.
• Attack vectors are changing. One of the things that makes this cyber-attack so interesting is the multiple angles from which the cybercriminals targeted the global fashion brand. Retailers driving an omni-channel strategy offering online purchasing, smartphone apps and Internet of Things integration need to be especially conscious of the potential attack vectors they are opening themselves and their customers up to.
• Security requires a combination of people, processes and systems. Developing an appropriate cybersecurity posture requires more than just secure IT systems. The cyber-attack on the global fashion brand could have done much more damage if the security guard at the warehouse hadn’t followed the correct process and had given the individual presenting himself as a BT Openreach employee access to the site.
• All retailers are targets, regardless of scale and brand perception. During CNS Group’s discussions with the global fashion brand, one of the interesting insights we gained was that the global fashion brand didn’t consider itself a potential target for such a sophisticated cyber-attack; they expected high end brands to be more prominent on cybercriminals’ radars. This cyber-attack proved to them that all retailers are targets, regardless of where they see themselves in the market.

Protect Yourself from Cyber-Attack

The cyber-attack on a global fashion brand demonstrates the risks that retail businesses face in today’s volatile cybersecurity environment. If you take the right steps to improve your security posture, you can significantly reduce the chances of becoming a victim of cybercrime.

Six Degrees can support you throughout your cybersecurity journey, from benchmarking your security maturity and representing you at board level, through to implementing and managing secure IT systems and processes.

Our experts have applied their decades of security compliance expertise to develop a web-based scorecard, Aegis, which helps you to navigate the complex security landscape and mitigate risks to your business.

Register for our webinar to find out how you can discover your Cyber Security Maturity Score.