Amid rising threats to digital marketplaces, August’s CEH AI Compete edition challenged cybersecurity defenders to safeguard e-commerce ecosystems.
Tampa, Fla, August 30, 2025: EC-Council, a global leader in cybersecurity education and training, and creator of the world-renowned Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH AI) credential, has announced that securing e-commerce platforms will be the theme of its CEH Compete August Challenge.
In the August edition, participants were thrust into a simulated attack on a global online retail platform during peak sales season. Attackers targeted payment gateways, inventory management systems, and customer data pipelines, leveraging vulnerabilities in web applications, APIs, and third-party integrations. Participants were tasked with identifying ransomware attacks aimed at supply chain disruption, detecting fraudulent payment injections, and tracing stolen customer data across simulated dark web environments.
The scenario was crafted at a multi-vector breach difficulty level, designed to simulate the complexity and speed of real-world attacks on digital marketplaces. Defenders needed to secure interconnected systems under active threat escalation, conduct forensic tracing of exfiltrated financial data, and deploy rapid containment measures across multiple compromised subsystems all while ensuring continuity of customer-facing operations during simulated peak shopping periods.
The growing risks to e-commerce are backed by industry data. According to the CEH Threat Report 2024, 47% of cybersecurity professionals identified e-commerce fraud and payment system attacks as among the most impactful cyberattacks.
Inci Karamahmutoglu , Turkey) achieved the highest distinction by rapidly detecting fraudulent transactions, isolating compromised inventory systems, and recovering exfiltrated customer records before attackers could escalate their impact.
Today’s defenders must move beyond basic transactional security and develop capabilities to safeguard payment channels, inventory management, customer data, and digital trust simultaneously. Securing digital commerce environments demands a level of vigilance, foresight, and technical skill that few organizations can afford to overlook.
Through challenges like CEH AI Compete, EC-Council continues to strengthen the global community of cybersecurity professionals ready to defend critical digital infrastructures across industries.
For more information about CEH AI Compete or to participate in future challenges, visit https://www.eccouncil.org/train-certify/certified-ethical-hacker-ceh-compete/
