Retail fraud is posing a growing threat to the upcoming peak shopping season after recent data found a 96 per cent surge in attack traffic during the Labor Day weekend.

The data from Cequence Security also reveals retailers faced a 79 per cent increase in blocked bot traffic compared to last year.

The volume of malicious traffic experienced a staggering 2724 per cent increase from normal levels, indicating a significant surge in malicious activity during the major sales event.

Cequence warns that without proper bot and API protection, retailers could lose $60,000 every hour, especially during high-traffic periods like holiday weekends.

“During holiday seasons, retailers often face a perfect storm of increased vulnerability,” said William Glazier, director of threat research at Cequence. “Reduced staffing levels, coupled with the surge in online activity driven by sales and promotions, create a prime opportunity for cybercriminals to exploit.”

Glazier stressed that retailers should implement certain measures to get ahead of threat actors as peak shopping periods quickly approach.

The data is based on real, anonymized traffic and attack data from Cequence’s retail customer base, sampled from billions of transactions.