Vormetric Survey: Data Breaches Threaten Americans' Loyalty to Their Favorite Retailer

SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 10, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Vormetric, a leader in enterprise data security for physical, virtual, big data and cloud environments, today announced in conjunction with Wakefield the results of its survey on how Americans' would change their shopping behaviors if their favorite retailer was hit by a data breach. The survey revealed that for 85% of Americans, significant personal consequences that can result from a breach would cause them to find a new place to shop. According to the Wakefield survey, Americans would take their business elsewhere after a data breach at their favorite retailer:

• If money was taken from their checking account (67%)
• If unauthorized charges appeared on their credit card (62%)
• If personal information were leaked (57%)
• If their credit score was damaged (54%)

ClickToTweet:   The Fastest Way to Lose #CustomerLoyalty? 85% - Personal #DataBreach Consequences http://bit.ly/1RFb5BX pic.twitter.com/YXsyYURgLw

As retail organizations look forward to soaring back into the black during the holiday shopping season, they should never lose sight of the importance of data security. In fact, a data breach could cost them one of their most valuable assets – customer loyalty.

Successful retailers understand the strategic advantage of the "lifetime value" of loyal customers. And nothing destroys lifetime value more quickly than lack of consumer confidence. For retailers, protecting customers' information this holiday season, and all year long, needs to become a critical part of maintaining this confidence. As evidenced by the retail edition of the 2015 Vormetric Insider Threat Report, retailers still have some catching up to do. According to the report, over 51% of retail respondents reported being very or extremely vulnerable to insider threats – the highest rates measured in the study.

"It's been two years since major retail attacks made 'data breach' a household word," said Tina Stewart, VP of marketing at Vormetric. "The revelation of a major data breach following the Black Friday weekend in 2013 was the starting point for two record years of data breaches that have followed.  Events since then have demonstrated just how much financial and reputational havoc a data breach incident can wreak on beloved brands."

This survey's results highlight that retailers must take a proactive approach to protecting customer data, or risk permanent losses to their bottom line. Further, protecting data by meeting minimum compliance requirements is no longer sufficient to protect sensitive data. Many retail breaches occurred at organizations that were certified compliant with highly ranked standards like PCI-DSS. With attacks changing by the hour, evolving compliance standards can't provide sufficient protection for organizations.

"The time has come for retailers – and indeed all organizations – to embrace a data-centric mindset and change their approach to how their data is protected," said Sol Cates, CSO at Vormetric. "With attackers now using multi-phase approaches to breach organization's perimeters and networks, a stronger focus on better securing company data where it is stored is required. Encryption and access controls are now front-line defenses for defending data at rest. With encryption becoming increasingly easier to implement, there is no excuse for not protecting your organization's sensitive data, regardless of where it resides."

Source/Methodology
The Vormetric Survey was conducted by Wakefield Research among 1,000 nationally representative U.S. adults ages 18+ between November 9th and November 13th 2015, using an email invitation and an online survey. Quotas have been set to ensure reliable and accurate representation of the U.S. adult population. Results of any sample are subject to sampling variation. The magnitude of the variation is measurable and is affected by the number of interviews and the level of the percentages expressing the results. For the interviews conducted in this particular study, the chances are 95 in 100 that a survey result does not vary, plus or minus, by more than 3.1 percentage points from the result that would be obtained if interviews had been conducted with all persons in the universe represented by the sample.

About Vormetric
Vormetric's comprehensive high-performance data security platform helps companies move confidently and quickly. Our seamless and scalable platform is the most effective way to protect data wherever it resides—any file, database and application in any server environment. Advanced transparent encryption, powerful access controls and centralized key management let organizations encrypt everything efficiently, with minimal disruption. Regardless of content, database or application—whether physical, virtual or in the cloud—Vormetric Data Security enables confidence, speed and trust by encrypting the data that builds business.

For more information, please visit: www.vormetric.com.

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