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Retailers targeted by hackers

Retail websites are increasingly being targeted by hackers with reports of a 161 per cent rise in the number of attempted hacker attacks recorded by just one internet security firm.

This figure is based on the attack statistics on some 36 major retail corporations across the US targeted by attempted authentication attacks, SQL Injection attacks and network scans.

According to Wayne Haber, director of architecture for SecureWorks, an increase in network scans "is often a red flag" as this is often followed by attacks specifically aimed at the organisation's services.

"We saw a large increase in hackers looking for open ports, as well as those trying to identify the applications and other services our retail clients were running," he said.

"Attempted network scans against our retail clients increased 61 per cent in 2008 going from an average of 56,000 per client per month in the first six months of the year to 90,000 per client per month in the last five months of the year."

Such websites may contain a treasure trove of data that may include names and credit card numbers, which if stolen can lead to ID theft or online fraud.

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