Question

This is an Introduction to Homeland Security course question.

What responsibility do private-sector owners with online shopping and brick and mortar stores have to protect their facilities? How does cyber security hacking during Black Friday and Cyber Monday interfere with homeland security, what are the risks? Explain your answer.

Answer 1

Private sector owners with online and brick-and-mortar store retails have the responsibility to protect both their retail stores from any form of threat and hazards. They have the responsibility to protect store’s critical assets, systems and networks, and most importantly their customers’ information from any potential threats. Hence, they need to protect their customers from any form of cyber threats, insider threats, and natural disasters and accidents.

Holiday shopping season like Black Friday and Cyber Monday makes shoppers highly vulnerable to hackers who use their phishing scams and malware to lure shoppers who are eager to find lucrative deals. The massive deals that are offered on these days are also fraught often with weak security measures, opening avenues for cyber security criminals, to obtain customers’ financial data and misuse it.

Cyber security hacking during Black Friday and Cyber Monday interferes with homeland security, as homeland security is responsible for strengthening the country’s security and resilience, by managing any forms of physical and cyber risks. The hacking during the holiday shopping season makes the nation vulnerable to foreign cyber criminals gain access to sensitive information about the citizens and use the same for activities that can hamper country’s security, both cyber security and physical security of the critical systems, assets and networks.