Study – Most Online Shoppers Remain With Retailer After A Breach, Experts Weigh In

| November 19, 2021

Saryu Nayyar, CEO, Gurucul

After a data breach, consumers are often faced with difficult challenges of understanding where the failure was, if it was negligent, and what the true impact of the data breach is. This survey provides interesting insights into how individuals appear to accept this risk and express understanding toward retailers. Retailers may be fortunate to receive this perspective, but they need to realize when data is provided to them it becomes their responsibility regardless of what happens. To this end, it is important to ensure they invest in strong cyber and infosec teams. This is a strong demonstration of attention to security. It is critical to find this talent regardless of the labor market. We have the technology to find them, we need to ensure we get them into the fight or risk losing this benevolent consumer perspective.

| November 19, 2021

Bill Lawrence, CISO, SecurityGate

Shoppers love convenience, and online shopping went through the roof with pandemic lock-downs. There are regular reports of data breaches at major corporations (see https:// www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/worlds-biggest-data-breaches-hacks/ for huge bouncing breach bubbles) but shoppers most likely won’t switch retailers after a breach. Many cite credit card and bank protections. It turns out that the stock market is similarly minded. An article in the Harvard Business Review titled, “Why Data Breaches Don’t Hurt Stock Prices” by Kvochko and Pant finds that, “overall, stock prices during and following the high-profile security data breaches for the in the past several years have decreased slightly or quickly recovered following the breach.” Yes, companies like Target (40MM+ customer credit card data and 70MM+ customer personal information lost in 2013) still had to spend hundreds of millions to clean up the mess, add security measures, and had to defend against multiple lawsuits. But the market and shoppers came back.

For the holiday shopper this season, ensure your bank and credit card accounts are protected with two-factor authentication, don’t save credit card information on a store website, and regularly scan your financial statements for fraud or unapproved purchases. If you can’t live without the convenience of automatically filled-in forms to purchase that trinket, storing credit card information in a password manager or web browser is still better than storing it with a company online.  And don’t click links for amazing sales, giveaways, or prizes.

| November 19, 2021

Doug Britton, CEO, Haystack Solutions

After a data breach, consumers are often faced with difficult challenges of understanding where the failure was, if it was negligent, and what the true impact of the data breach is. This survey provides interesting insights into how individuals appear to accept this risk and express understanding toward retailers. Retailers may be fortunate to receive this perspective, but they need to realize when data is provided to them it becomes their responsibility regardless of what happens. To this end, it is important to ensure they invest in strong cyber and infosec teams. This is a strong demonstration of attention to security. It is critical to find this talent regardless of the labor market. We have the technology to find them, we need to ensure we get them into the fight or risk losing this benevolent consumer perspective.