TRENDING: Neiman Marcus On Why AI Isn’t Enough To Outsmart Cybercriminals

For retailers, the holiday season is both a busy and profitable time, but it’s also when cybercriminals seize the opportunity and target those increased retail revenues. In the latest Omni Security And Authentication Report, PYMNTS explored the different tactics cybercriminals are deploying this holiday season, and how retailers are working to safeguard themselves.

Around The Security And Authentication Space

There is an ever-growing cache of personal identifying information (PII) available to fraudsters on the dark web. In fact, more than one-third of consumers had their PII compromised in the last year, First Data’s 2018 Consumer Cybersecurity Study found. Fraudsters are using this data to pull off card-not-present (CNP) fraud schemes, such as account takeovers.

What’s more, cybercriminals are increasingly targeting retailers, with the number of attacks more than doubling in the last year. According to recent research, 50 percent of merchants claim to have fallen victim — up from just 19 percent one year prior.

For more on these stories and other news around the space, check out the report’s News and Trends section.

How Neiman Marcus Safeguards Purchases When Sales Surge

As the number of CNP attacks and other omnichannel threats mount up, retailers like Neiman Marcus are investing in a range of new cybersecurity tools, including emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). While these may be powerful tools, Shamoun Siddiqui, vice president and chief information security officer at Neiman Marcus, told PYMNTS in a recent interview that they come with substantial challenges.

Establishing these programs is often very expensive, Siddiqui said, and, therefore, can be difficult for smaller retailers to afford. This is especially true when it comes to investing in AI and ML infrastructures, which must often meet certain regulatory requirements. Furthermore, despite the fact that AI and ML are of top interest, there’s a shortage of truly skilled and experienced data scientists capable of establishing such protections.

In this month’s Omni Security and Authentication Report feature story, Siddiqui discussed these and other challenges, and explained why, even despite these roadblocks, these technologies offer the most promise for combating cybercrime going forward.

To read the full feature story, download the latest report here.

About The Report

The Omni Security And Authentication Report, powered by CA Technologies, is the go-to source for the latest authentication and security developments, data, news and trends.