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Yes—high-volume shopping days in November create a rich target environment for attackers. The sudden surge in traffic, transactional emails, and promotional activity gives phishers and fraudsters more opportunities to trick users and exploit system gaps. Small and medium businesses, plus MSPs that support them, are especially at risk because resources and staff may be stretched.
High transaction volume and promotional noise are the main drivers. Events like Singles’ Day and Black Friday push enormous numbers of emails, ads, and site visits—cybercriminals exploit that noise to disguise phishing and fake storefronts. Consumers expect more messages from retailers, which lowers suspicion and increases click-through rates. MSPs and SMBs with thin security teams become attractive targets because they may not monitor logs as closely during peak periods. Attackers also time attacks to coincide with staffing gaps and holiday schedule disruptions.
Email-based impersonation leads the list. Attackers send fake order confirmations, shipping alerts, or “exclusive” deal messages that direct victims to credential-stealing pages or malware downloads. Modern phishing kits clone brand pages and use logos, fonts, and URLs designed to look authentic. Since inboxes are full of legitimate retailer messages, even vigilant users can be tricked. Automated filtering helps, but layered defenses and user awareness training are essential.
Ransomware actors time attacks to hit when response capacity is lower. They deliver payloads through malicious attachments, fake discount apps, or compromised third-party plugins, then encrypt systems or create persistent backdoors. Some groups have targeted retail supply chains and POS systems to maximize disruption and leverage ransom pressure. SMBs often face direct operational losses and reputational damage when systems go offline. Frequent backups, patching, and segmentation reduce the blast radius of successful attacks.
Attackers combine typosquatting with polished landing pages and paid ads to appear legitimate. These sites mimic pricing, product photos, and checkout flows, often using minor misspellings in domains that escape casual inspection. Search ads can place these clones near the top of results, attracting bargain hunters who don’t check the URL closely. Payment and personal details submitted to these sites are harvested and sold or used for account takeover. Educating users to verify domains and look for HTTPS and reputable payment processors helps reduce fraud.
DDoS can shut down sales channels when traffic and revenue are highest. Attackers use botnets to overwhelm servers, causing downtime and lost transactions, and sometimes use the chaos to mask other intrusions. Even short outages during peak shopping windows can cost significant revenue and damage customer trust. DDoS protection, scalable infrastructure, and traffic filtering are practical defenses. Monitoring for unusual traffic patterns early is critical to mitigate impact.
Credential stuffing relies on reused passwords from past breaches to hijack accounts. With millions of credentials leaked over years, automated tools test those username/password pairs across multiple sites, succeeding when users reuse passwords. During shopping events, attackers aim to buy with stored payment data or change shipping addresses, profiting directly from hijacked accounts. Enforcing MFA, rate-limiting login attempts, and password hygiene reduce success rates dramatically. For MSPs, protecting customer-facing portals and notifying users of suspicious logins is crucial.
Yes—large shopping days have produced high-profile scams and outages. For example, billions were spent on Singles’ Day in recent years, which corresponded with a spike in counterfeit storefronts and phishing pages. Reports have shown double-digit percentage increases in fake e-commerce sites during Black Friday weekends. These incidents highlight how quickly fraudsters scale attacks when buyers flock online and how even established brands can see their customers targeted. Case studies reinforce that preparation must start well before November.
Start with basic hygiene: patch critical systems, review access controls, and confirm backups are current and tested. Enable multi-factor authentication everywhere possible and enforce strong password policies. Update incident response plans and ensure on-call rotations cover peak shopping windows. Increase monitoring of email flows, web traffic, and authentication logs to spot anomalies fast. Communicate internal procedures and customer-facing guidance so everyone knows how to report suspicious activity.
Targeted, short training focused on season-specific scams is highly effective. Teach employees to spot fake shipping notices, malicious attachments, and spoofed vendor invoices—and practice safe reporting channels. Simulated phishing campaigns timed before peak periods can identify weak spots and reinforce good habits. Keep guidance concise and actionable, with examples of the latest tactics attackers use. Combining training with technical controls multiplies protection.
Backups and network segmentation are core resilience measures. Regular, immutable backups ensure data can be recovered without paying ransoms, while segmentation limits lateral movement if an endpoint is compromised. Test restores regularly to confirm backups are reliable under time pressure. Segmenting payment systems, order processing, and admin tooling reduces the chance that a single compromise stops all operations. When combined with monitoring, these controls shorten recovery time and reduce business impact.
Containment first: isolate affected systems and preserve forensic evidence. Communicate clearly with customers and partners about the incident and any actions they should take—don’t delay critical notifications. Engage incident response resources and follow your documented playbook to restore services from clean backups. Assess legal and regulatory obligations for breach reporting in your jurisdiction. After stabilizing, perform a blameless postmortem to close gaps before the next peak.
Layered defenses deliver the best outcomes: email security, web filtering, endpoint detection, MFA, and DDoS protection together form a strong posture. Implement real-time monitoring and threat intelligence feeds to detect campaigns targeting your brand or customers. Use rate-limiting, CAPTCHA, and bot-detection tools to reduce automated abuse. For MSPs, offering managed detection and response or partnering with specialists increases coverage without hiring large teams. Regular reviews of tooling and playbooks before November make protection measurable and repeatable.
For a practical checklist to harden email and domain security before holiday spikes, see Palisade’s guidance on safer email practices: Palisade holiday security checklist.
A: Scam activity rises noticeably—analysts reported large percentage increases in counterfeit sites and phishing campaigns during major shopping weekends. The absolute risk varies by industry and customer base, but spike patterns are consistent across years. High ad spend and search activity make impersonation campaigns more visible and effective. Businesses that don’t prepare can see outages, fraud losses, or data theft. Track your traffic and fraud metrics compared to baseline to quantify the change.
A: MFA greatly reduces risk but isn’t foolproof—it blocks most credential-stuffing attacks and common phishing, especially when SMS is avoided in favor of app or hardware tokens. Some advanced attackers use social engineering to bypass MFA or rely on session-hijacking. Combine MFA with login anomaly detection, device fingerprinting, and risk-based authentication for stronger protection. Prompt user notification on unusual logins helps contain misuse quickly. For critical accounts, require hardware tokens or phishing-resistant authentication.
A: Paying ransoms is risky and often discouraged—payments don’t guarantee recovery and can fund further crime. Focus on isolating the incident and restoring operations from verified backups. Involve legal and incident response professionals to evaluate options and obligations. Some insurers and regulators may have specific requirements about ransom payments. The best strategy is preparation: backups, segmentation, and tested recovery plans reduce the pressure to pay.
A: Check the URL carefully, verify HTTPS and the certificate owner, and look for contact details and reputable payment options. Poor grammar, unrealistic prices, or pressure to pay via unusual methods (wire transfer, gift cards) are red flags. Search for independent reviews and confirm the seller on known marketplaces. When in doubt, use the retailer’s official app or type the brand URL directly instead of following ads. Report suspected fraud to help protect other shoppers.
A: Palisade provides concise guidance and tools tailored for MSPs to prepare clients for seasonal threats—start with MFA, patching, backups, email protection, and incident playbooks. Regularly test restores and simulate peak conditions if possible. Coordinate on-call schedules to ensure coverage during expected surges. Communicate clear escalation paths and client-facing messaging templates in advance. Visit Palisade’s Learning hub for templates and checklists: https://palisade.email/learning/.
