KnowBe4 Warns Black Friday Amplifies Cyber Risk for Retailers

Phishing makes an attempt, scams and fraudulent funds put the retail workforce beneath elevated stress

KnowBe4, the world-renowned platform that comprehensively addresses human and agentic AI threat administration, is warning retailers that the upcoming peak procuring days, like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, pose an elevated threat of a cyber incident. These incidents can result in enterprise interruption and model injury.

During these durations, the elevated digital visitors, larger e-mail quantity and IT crew overload creates a ‘excellent storm’ of threat. The state of affairs is additional aggravated by elements typical of the retail sector, corresponding to the usage of untrained momentary workers and the complexity of multichannel environments that mix bodily shops, e-commerce, apps and fee methods.

According to the KnowBe4 Global Retail Report 2025, the retail business is among the many 5 most focused sectors on the earth. The common price of an information breach on this section reached US$3.48 million in 2024 (IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report), an 18% enhance over the earlier yr.

How the most typical scams work

During the busy vacation season, cybercriminals use lifelike fraudulent messages, corresponding to faux tech alerts, password resets or supply notifications, to compromise organizations and steal client information. These professional-looking emails usually include malicious hyperlinks or attachments that set up ransomware or spy ware to steal credentials. Scams exploit urgency, reward and familiarity (e.g., emails from colleagues), making workers the first entry level for cyberattacks as a result of heavy workloads and fewer scrutiny.

Reducing threat by way of tradition, habits and steady coaching

Combating one of these fraud requires a cultural shift for retailers. Continuous consciousness applications and phishing simulations can scale back the probability of workers interacting with malicious messages by as much as 88% inside 12 months. Employees also needs to be skilled to establish and resist adversarial inputs designed to hijack enterprise AI brokers.

“Black Friday creates the right storm for cybercriminals,” says Javvad Malik, lead CISO advisor at KnowBe4. “With retail groups beneath stress, attackers know that is when organizations are at their most weak and we see a rise in assaults. Retailers ought to be getting ready their workforce, simply as a lot as their know-how. When workers are rushed, they’re way more prone to click on on a malicious hyperlink or approve one thing that doesn’t look proper. Clear steerage and robust processes are important to holding each buyer and firm information secure within the weeks forward.”

Beyond coaching, implement safety insurance policies, evaluation communication and implement MFA. Real-time teaching and automatic phishing alerts can help rapid fraud response. Protect enterprise continuity and model worth by staying cybersafe.

The publish KnowBe4 Warns Black Friday Amplifies Cyber Risk for Retailers first appeared on AI-Tech Park.