Sherri Davidoff, CEO, Brightwise:

• Infected e-cards: "Criminals love to send cuteThanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's e-cards, which entice you toclick a link – but once you do, your computer is infected withmalware that can steal your online banking credentials, credit cardnumbers and more," Davidoff said.
• Gift card scams: "Scammers impersonate yourCEO or another executive, and send emails or text messages to theoffice manager, executive assistant or other staff, asking them topurchase gift cards." The victim sends card details to the scammer,who steals them and cashes out.
• Fake retail deals: "Cybercriminals love tolure consumers into clicking on fake offers. Often, these phishingemails perfectly mirror real email blasts sent by Amazon or otherbig names. To be safe, do not click the link – instead, type thestore's address directly into the address bar."
• Point-of-sale and ATM skimmers: "Criminals canplace skimmers to steal credit or debit card numbers as you swipe.They can also overlay a keypad to capture PIN numbers. Check cardreaders and PIN pads carefully for unusual signs such as cracks,loose parts or scratches. If you notice anything suspicious, do notuse that machine."
• E-skimming: Criminals break into third-partysoftware providers to inject malicious code designed to stealcustomer payment data into thousands of websites at once. Merchantscan defend against this by carefully vetting third-party code.

Anurag Kahol, CTO and co-founder, Bitglass:

"Black Friday and Cyber Monday present a great opportunity forretailers to collect customer data," Kahol said. However, whileramping up efforts to collect this data, it is even moreimportant to store it safely in order to meet data privacyregulations like the EU's General Data Protection Regulation."While complying with data privacy laws can be particularlychallenging for small- and medium-sized businesses, the demands forSMBs are still the same as larger companies and they must take fullresponsibility for securing their customer data."

Ben Goodman, CISSP and SVP of global business/corporatedevelopment, ForgeRock:

"The online holiday shopping frenzy that comes with Black Fridayand Cyber Monday represents a great opportunity for consumers togive themselves a privacy checkup," Goodman noted. "People tend toreuse passwords across multiple accounts, meaning that if one setof login credentials are exposed, the individual can become highlysusceptible to accounts with much more sensitive information beinghijacked such as banking, health care and even governmentportals."

Alexander García-Tobar, CEO and co-founder, Valimail:

"Retailers recognize that email marketing is one of the mostimportant tools for capitalizing on this massive sales opportunity,but it also represents a huge opportunity for cybercriminals tosend phishing emails to consumers by impersonating popular brands."These fraudulent emails come in many forms, including fake salesalerts and fake online order confirmations. "To prevent theseattacks, brands need to protect their domains from both inbound andoutbound phishing attempts with strong sender identityprotection."