This white paper examines the rapidly increasing number of cyberthreats targeting the retail industry, including web application and API attacks, bot attacks, and Layer 7 DDoS attacks. It provides actionable guidance for retailers to secure their systems during peak periods, optimize performance, and implement AI-ready defenses. Key strategies include API security, bot defense, DDoS protection, smart segmentation, and performance optimization. Retailers will also learn how to prepare for peak seasons and leverage external expertise for enhanced security.
- Retail is the most targeted industry, with 230+ billion web attacks from 2023–2024
- Top attack vectors: web application and API attacks, Layer 7 DDoS, and AI-driven bot attacks
- Case study highlights SMS API abuse and the risks of unauthenticated APIs
- Emerging threats include AI-powered attacks and automated attack scaling
- Regional attack patterns: APJ, EMEA, and LATAM show varying API attack concentrations
- Peak season preparedness: stress testing, traffic management, and disaster recovery
- Retail security action plan: API security, bot defense, DDoS protection, AI-ready defenses, smart segmentation, and performance optimization
- Importance of partnering with external security experts to supplement internal capabilities
Learn more at Akamai’s Retail Security Hub and from the State of the Internet reports.