It's Complicated: Cyber Criminals Thrive Within Complex Retail Networks

By CP Morey, Director of Product Marketing, Cisco Security Group

Given that a major breach seems to come up at least once a month, it’s safe to say the adversary is especially interested in targeting the retail industry. The intentions are pretty simple: steal as much credit card information and personal data as possible, and then exploit it for financial gain.

The incidents are taking a toll and impacting consumer confidence. Organizations in just about every sector, not just retail, face a 66 percent compound annual growth rate of detected incidents, with the average cost of each breach in 2014 estimated at $5.4 million. Beyond that, more than 10 percent of consumers have indicated they would stop shopping at a retailer hit by a breach. Over the last few years hacking has become industrialized with dedicated groups adding structure and resources to reap the greatest financial gain, targeting retailers and credit card data in droves.  As more and more incidents are reported, concerns have grown to the point where nearly one of five consumers now strictly pay with cash at stores.

And while the underlying motivation of attackers is easy to understand, they’re taking advantage of greater opportunities due to growing complexities – specifically the increasingly intricate nature of network systems.

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