Arcserve study finds retailers underprepared for holiday cyberattacks

Arcserve, a provider of backup, recovery and storage solutions for data resilience against ransomware and disasters, has released a segment from its annual independent global research that highlights an urgent need for enhanced data resilience in the retail sector. The Draper-based company released the report to coincide with national Cybersecurity Awareness Month.

Arcserve’s study reveals a lack of preparedness and confidence in data backup and recovery strategies, raising concerns about the retail industry’s readiness to protect sensitive customer and business data.

Among the key survey insights from the study are:

• Ransomware Pressures: Fifty-four percent of retail executives disclosed they were targeted by ransomware in the past 12 months; 26 percent of the attacks resulted in compromised data and a quarter confirmed paying ransom.
• Recovery Confidence. Just over 66 percent of retail executives surveyed were not very confident in their ability to recover all lost data in the event of a ransomware attack.
• Partial Data Recovery. Nearly half (42 percent) of retail executives admitted being unable to recover all data during their last significant data loss incident.
• Unprepared for Disaster. Fifty-seven percent reported they lack well-documented or updated disaster recovery plans. The vast majority (72 percent) revealed that they do not have specific data resilience goals within their data and backup strategies.

“As we head into the Cybersecurity Awareness Month and the holiday shopping season that follows, retailers can’t afford to be caught off-guard,” said Aftab Alam, chief product officer at Arcserve. “Our latest research is more than a cautionary tale; it’s a call to action. Retailers must urgently overhaul their disaster recovery plans to match the ever-evolving cyber threat landscape. Data resilience isn’t a 'nice-to-have’; it’s a non-negotiable business requirement with clear, measurable objectives. And don’t wait for a crisis to test your recovery protocols; make it a regular practice, akin to a fire drill. By taking these steps, retailers do more than protect their bottom line — they retain the trust of their customers.”

Arcserve recommends three immediate steps for retail organizations to be better prepared:

1. Review and Update Disaster Recovery Plans. Assess the robustness of data recovery strategies and ensure they align with the evolving threat landscape.

2. Invest in Data Resilience. Define specific data resilience goals within data and backup strategies to minimize potential losses.

3. Test Recovery Procedures. The wrong time to test disaster recovery plans is during a crisis. Test them now to ensure seamless and orchestrated recovery when it matters most.

Dimensional Research contacted 1,121 IT decision-makers for the Arcserve survey. All participants had a budget or technical decision-making responsibility for data management, data protection and storage solutions at a company with 100-2,500 employees and at least five terabytes of data.