Industry Insights
Retail and E-commerce Security: Protecting Payments and Customer Trust
Customers abandon brands that lose their data. Protecting payments, accounts and websites in retail and e-commerce — especially during peak trading.
Key takeaways
- Fraud, ransomware and third-party compromise are the leading threats.
- SAMA CSF and SAMA BCM set clear maturity expectations for regulated entities.
- Identity, payments security and resilience testing deserve priority.
- Board reporting must be quantified and honest.
The threat landscape
Banks, insurers, payment companies and fintechs face organized fraud groups, ransomware operators and state-linked actors. Common attack paths include phishing of staff and customers, compromise of third-party providers, abuse of APIs in open banking and insider threats.
Regulatory expectations
SAMA's Cyber Security Framework defines domains and a maturity model that regulated entities must evidence, alongside the SAMA Business Continuity Management framework and counter-fraud expectations. The NCA ECC applies where entities fall within its scope, and PDPL governs customer personal data.
Security priorities
| Priority | Why |
|---|---|
| Identity and privileged access | Most breaches involve stolen credentials |
| Fraud detection | Real-time analytics on payments and digital channels |
| API security | Open banking and fintech integrations expand exposure |
| Third-party risk | Cloud and fintech partners hold critical data |
| Resilience testing | Regulators expect evidence of recovery capability |
| 24x7 monitoring | Attacks happen outside business hours |
Resilience and testing
Regular penetration testing, red teaming for mature institutions, scenario-based BCM exercises and full DR tests demonstrate resilience to supervisors and boards.
Reporting to the board
Present maturity against the framework, top risks against appetite, incidents and near misses, and progress on remediation — in business language.
Digital channels and open banking
Mobile banking, open APIs and fintech partnerships expand the attack surface. Protect APIs with strong authentication, rate limiting and monitoring for abuse; test mobile applications for tampering and insecure storage; and assess partners before connecting them.
Insider risk
Employees and contractors with access to payment systems and customer data present significant risk. Combine least privilege, segregation of duties, privileged session monitoring and behavioural analytics.
A 12-month priority plan
| Quarter | Priorities |
|---|---|
| Q1 | Gap assessment against the applicable framework, privileged access quick wins |
| Q2 | API security, fraud analytics integration, third-party reassessments |
| Q3 | Resilience exercises and DR testing |
| Q4 | Red team or advanced testing, board maturity report |
How NAZZTEC helps
We support financial institutions with SAMA CSF and NCA ECC programmes, penetration testing, 24x7 monitoring, BCM and GRC automation through NAZZTEC AI GRC.
Next step: see Industry Solutions and our Governance, Risk & Compliance services.
Frequently asked questions
How often should banks run penetration tests?
At least annually and after significant change, with critical internet-facing services tested more frequently.
Does cloud adoption conflict with financial regulation?
No, provided outsourcing, data location and security requirements are met and evidenced.
What is the biggest gap you typically see?
Evidence. Controls often exist but are not documented, owned and reviewed in a way supervisors can verify.
NAZZTEC Editorial TeamWritten and reviewed by NAZZTEC practitioners. This briefing is general guidance, not legal advice.
