Survey: Retailers up security precautions for holiday more than in years past

The COVID-19 pandemic, increased online shopping, and the holiday season all impacted retailers’ security preparations in 2020.

According to a new global survey of retail security professionals from cybersecurity technology provider Tripwire, 78% of respondents have taken additional precautions for the 2020 holiday season compared to prior years. This figure is evenly split at 39% each among respondents who have taken significantly more and slightly more precautions.

Another 21% are doing nothing more than they usually do for holiday security, and only 1% are doing less. The most common extra precaution is investing in additional tools or technology (75% of respondents who took additional precautions), followed by updated processes (69%), additional training (65%), increased use of managed services (51%), and hiring employees or contractors (39%).

Of respondents who took additional security precautions, 87% said they were related to the pandemic, including 35% who said they were entirely due to COVId-19 and 52% who said they were partially due. Almost two in three (63%) said their IT security team’s timeline started earlier this year, 19% said it was delayed and 18% said there has been no change.

Close to six in 10 (57%) respondents said increased online shopping have made security efforts more difficult, 8% said they have decreased security difficulty, and 31% said there has been no change. Interestingly, 4% have not seen an increase in online shopping. Responses were virtually identical to the question of whether COVID-19 has made security efforts more difficult, with 3% reporting no impact from COVID-19.

Eight in 10 (82%) respondents said their company’s overall security budget has increased in the past year, including 62% reporting a slight increase and 20% saying there was a dramatic increase. Five percent said their company’s security budget decreased slightly and 2% said it decreased dramatically, with 10% reporting no change. COVID-19 (45%) and high-profile cybersecurity incidents (36%) were the most common causes for security budget increases.

Tripwire partnered with Dimensional Research to survey 203 retail security professionals in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Germany, Italy, France, and other European countries in November 2020.