E-Commerce Websites Enduring Bot Attacks
A new study by Imperva reports that e-Commerce websites have seen an increase in bot attacks. As defined by CloudFlare, “a bot is a software that is programmed to do certain tasks.” In the case of cyber-attacks, the bots are programmed to compromise a particular company’s computers and servers.
Two Common Types of Bots Attacks
There are two common bot attacks that have been reported against e-commerce websites: remote code execution and data exposure.
Remote code execution allows cyber-criminals to take over computers and servers from a remote location. Malwarebytes explains, “remote code execution attacks happen when a threat actor illegally accesses and manipulates a computer or server without authorization from [the computer’s] owner. A system can be taken over using malware.”
98% of E-Commerce Attacks are Bot Driven
According to Shopify, e-Commerce is “the buying and selling of goods or services using the internet, and the transfer of money and data to execute these transactions.” Imperva’s study found that 98% of attacks on e-commerce websites are bot driven. Furthermore, the United States accounts for 51% of those attacks. This may be a result of COVID-19, since the pandemic forced many small businesses to utilize e-commerce websites to meet customer needs.
What to do to Protect Your E-Commerce Site
You can protect against bot threats to your e-Commerce website by:
- Verifying the platform you are using has the latest updates. All plug-ins should come from trusted sources that use the latest updates
- Ensuring all admin and user accounts for your website are complex and long
- Using anti-malware on your website to scan for vulnerabilities
- Implementing third party solutions that directly address botnet attacks, remote code execution, and other cyber-attacks.
To learn more about small business cybersecurity visit us online at SmallBusinessBigThreat.com