Redefining Resilience in Retail IT

Impacted by cyber incidents stemming from outdated systems and a broad attack surface, preventative security can provide retailers with a route to modernization.

The retail sector continues to experience an increase in cyber threats, driven by outdated infrastructure, distributed environments, and expanding attack surfaces. Recent data breaches involving well-known brands such as Harrods, Marks & Spencer, Cartier, The North Face, and Victoria’s Secret have brought this issue to light. These events underscore the dynamic and complex threat environment that retailers face today. They also emphasize that retail is a key target for well-resourced and opportunistic threat actors.

In the last two years, the retail sector has experienced a substantial increase in cybersecurity vulnerabilities and breaches, leading to serious operational and financial ramifications. In 2024, 80% of retailers reported being targets of cyberattacks, with over half admitting a growing sense of vulnerability to these threats[1]. The frequency and severity of these incidents are increasing: retail data breaches grew by 18% year-over-year in 2024, with the average breach now costing $2.96 million[2].

Ransomware continues to pose a sizable threat, with the retail industry being the second most targeted sector for ransomware attacks in 2023 and the first half of 2024. In this timeframe, the U.S. retail sector reported 256 ransomware incidents in 2024, an increase from 206 incidents reported in the first three quarters of 2023[3].

Understaffed IT teams, high turnover, and a lack of cybersecurity training, particularly for temporary and seasonal staff, have heightened vulnerabilities. The repercussions of these breaches go well beyond immediate financial impacts. Business disruptions and the damage to their reputation can be considerable and profound.

Notably, 33% of retailers have faced regulatory action due to inadequate protection of customer data[4].

What is especially concerning about these incidents is their tendency to exploit vulnerabilities that could be addressed with effective preventive security measures. This highlights the urgent need for a more comprehensive and strategic approach to cybersecurity.

Traditional cybersecurity measures aren’t keeping pace

The retail sector’s IT infrastructure is inherently vulnerable. The attack surface is wide with thousands of distributed locations, outdated systems that are challenging to update, third-party connections, and the need for constant uptime. Additionally, the rise of e-commerce has turned retail into a 24/7/365 operation, placing additional strain on IT resources and creating more potential vulnerabilities. Furthermore, risks extend beyond retail stores—logistics, inventory management, transportation, and backend systems all present possible attack access points.

Traditional security tools have not kept pace with the evolving landscape of cyber threats. Many of these solutions were originally designed for static and centralized environments, making them increasingly inadequate in the face of fast-moving threats that can easily exploit vulnerabilities across distributed and diverse endpoints such as laptops, smartphones, and cloud services, which often fall outside the direct control of traditional security measures.

Once attackers access a network, they can move laterally within the system, navigating various connected devices and systems. This lateral movement can occur alarmingly quickly, often within just a few minutes, enabling them to disable critical services and infrastructure before a retailer realizes it has been compromised.

Preventative Security as a Strategic Shift

Today’s retailers require lightweight, efficient, and functional security within limited infrastructure. More importantly, they need systems that stop breaches before they escalate.

This necessitates a strategic shift from reacting to preventing threats, and one way in which retailers can improve endpoint security is by adopting IGEL’s Preventative Security Model™.

For retailers, IGEL OS, the Secure Endpoint OS for Now & Next:

• Immutable, read-only OS: Reduces exploitability and eliminates persistence of malware.
• Centralized configuration management: Via IGEL UMS, enabling rapid policy deployment across distributed fleets.
• Boot chain of trust: UEFI Secure Boot through to application launch, validating integrity at every step.
• PCI-DSS alignment: Designed to protect PII and cardholder data, reducing compliance burden.
• Single sign-on integration: With platforms like Okta, Entra ID, and Ping Identity to enforce identity-driven access control.
• Peripheral and protocol compatibility: Ensures business continuity without compromising usability.
• Ransomware mitigation: Architectural safeguards lower both the probability and the impact of endpoint compromise.

Rethinking Endpoint Recovery for Business Continuity

For organizations still relying on traditional endpoints, recovery from a security event often translates to logistical disruption. Device reimaging, hardware replacement, and manual reconfiguration introduce significant delays—especially in distributed retail environments with limited IT presence. When laptops are compromised or encrypted by ransomware, recovery can require full device replacement, resulting in downtime, shipping delays, and high support overhead.

IGEL OS can be used to return services utilizing the compromised endpoint hardware in place. IGEL OS runs from a read-only partition with no local data persistence. Compromised endpoints can be quickly restored using IGEL USB Boot, Dual Boot, or managed hypervisor fallback methods. This eliminates the need for physical device swaps or complex reimaging workflows.

The result is a business continuity model that is immediate, scalable, and resilient—even in environments with constrained IT support. IGEL allows organizations to return to a known-good state in minutes, not days, reducing operational disruption and breach containment costs. When combined with centralized policy enforcement via IGEL UMS, this architecture ensures security and continuity across the entire endpoint estate—without increasing complexity.

Final Thoughts

Retail security leaders are no longer measured solely by breach prevention—but by how effectively they limit operational impact when threats materialize. The endpoint remains one of the most exposed surfaces in this equation. IGEL offers an architecture that reduces the likelihood of compromise and provides rapid continuity for traditional endpoints. For CISOs, adopting a preventative, resilient endpoint strategy is not just a security imperative—it’s a business enabler.

To learn more about IGEL’s Preventative Security Model and IGEL OS: The Secure Endpoint OS for Retail, click here.

[1] https://www.vikingcloud.com/blog/retail-cybersecurity-stats-threats-and-solutions

[2] https://www.nccgroup.com/us/is-your-retail-business-prepared-for-cyber-threats-this-2024-holiday-season/

[3] https://cyberint.com/blog/other/retail-threat-landscape-2024/