Company Reputation: Ensuring Secure Transparency
The Federal Trade Commission highlights a need to quickly notify affected parties so that they have an opportunity to put a recovery plan in place. Data forensic teams must address vulnerabilities, privileges, and a lack of network segmentation that could lead to additional data loss (Ritchie et al., 2022).
In 2014, Ebay’s reputation was severely damaged after a phishing attack exposed multiple employee credentials that led to 145 million users’ data to be breached. Because financial information was not accessed, Ebay did not take the breach seriously and users became hesitant to trust them (Skillsire, 2020).
Alternately, Heartland took its data breach in 2009 extremely seriously. While they still suffered financial consequences, added security measures and an effort to educate customers restored their users’ faith and Heartland went on to become a fortune 100 company despite their accidental exposure of 134 million user credit card information after an sql injection attack (Comodo News, 2021). The heartland breach suggests that how a company handles a data breach determines how well customers will trust the company moving forward. While data breaches are embarrassing and damaging, a company’s willingness to be transparent and connect with users about new security measures makes a big difference in how a breach will affect a company’s reputation long term.
References:
EBay 2014 data breach: With Big Data Comes Big Responsibility. Skillsire. (2020, July 12).https://www.skillsire.com/read-blog/266_ebay-2014-data-breach-with-big-data-comes-big-responsibility.html
The heartland breach: A cautionary tale for e-commerce. Comodo News and Internet Security Information. (2021, December 21). https://blog.comodo.com/e-commerce/the-heartland-breach-a-cautionary-tale-for-e-commerce/
Ritchie, J. N. & A., & Technology, T. F. O. of. (2022, April 22). Data breach response: A guide for business. Federal Trade Commission. https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/data-breach-response-guide-business#:~:text=Notify%20law%20enforcement.&text=Report%20your%20situation%20and%20the%20potential%20risk%20for%20identity%20theft.
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