Black Friday and Cyber Monday are at hand, which means retailers have been working extra hard behind the scenes to ensure their websites and security-savvy customers are well-protected from the cyber Grinches.

Indeed, 50% of 2,011 US consumers recently surveyed by Sophos said they are very concerned about getting hacked and would not buy from a retailer that has been in the news for not protecting personal information either online or in-store. Another 32% said they are somewhat concerned and would consider an alternative company to buy from instead.

"First and foremost, retailers have to help their customers not become victims," says Chet Wisnieswki, principal research scientist at Sophos. "They have to understand that there are criminals out there trying to impersonate their company."

What can retailers do to keep their customers and themselves safe this holiday season? For the answers, we turned to Wisniewski, along with Russell Schrader, executive director of the National Cyber Security Alliance, and Adam Isles, a principal at The Chertoff Group.