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Cyber-criminals likely will increase their attacks on shoppers as the holiday-shopping season unofficially begins after Thanksgiving, according to industry observers. Cyber-crime activity typically spikes on the Friday after Thanksgiving, known as Black Friday, and the following Monday, known as Cyber Monday, according to Tampa Bay, Fla.-based Sunbelt. "Black Friday and Cyber Monday mark the beginning of the busiest time of the year for consumers, retailers and cyber criminals," says Alex Eckelberry, Sunbelt CEO. "Cyber-criminals feast on the fact that consumers are increasingly participating in e-commerce," he says. Indeed, "the overall activity on the merchant side is accelerated during the holidays," says David Fish, an analyst with Maynard, Mass.-based Mercator Advisory Group. "Because there are so many card orders coming in at an e-commerce site, the law of percentages says the number of fraudulent transactions are also going up," he says, noting it is the busiest time of year typically for sales and for fraud. Most consumers, more than 90%, intend to shop online during the holiday season, and 60% intend to do more online shopping this year than they did last year, according to a Sunbelt survey of 650 consumers.
