Partner Article

Data breaches no longer just an IT problem

When it comes to the biggest threats facing UK companies, IT practitioners and CMOs both believe a data breach ranks at the top, behind poor customer service, as it relates to their company’s reputation and brand value. Yet 39 per cent (IT) and 36 per cent (CMOs) don’t believe that brand protection is taken seriously by senior level executives. The findings were part of The Impact of Data Breaches on Reputation & Share Value: A Study of Marketers, IT Practitioners and Consumers in the UK. This Ponemon study was commissioned by Centrify, the leader in securing hybrid enterprises through the power of identity services, and has revealed the far-reaching consequences of data security breaches across an organisation—including sales, marketing and IT - and the significant negative effect on company finances, shareholder value and brand reputation. And while the study found a data breach has a significant impact on brand reputation, a startling 71 per cent of IT practitioners do not believe that brand protection is their responsibility.

The study found that the share value index of 113 companies declined an average of five per cent immediately following the disclosure of the breach and experienced up to a seven per cent customer churn. What’s more, one in four (27 per cent) of consumers impacted by a breach stated they discontinued their relationship with an organisation that experienced a data breach.

Commenting on the findings, Independent cybersecurity expert, Dr Jessica Barker, said: “With so many data breaches hitting the headlines, there can be a sense of defeatism among some organisations. Breaches are seen as inevitable so some organisations question the value of spending on security when it won’t make them 100% secure. However, this research has found that investing in security helps protect the organisation when even the worst happens, as companies with a strong security posture experience much quicker stock price recovery than those with a poor security posture following a data breach.”

“In this past year alone we’ve seen high-profile data breaches, such as Yahoo and TalkTalk, experience the significant consequences that a breach can have on shareholder value and brand reputation,” said Bill Mann, senior vice president of products and chief product officer, Centrify. It’s clearly a blind spot for the C-suite and it’s time leadership recognise that protecting data is no longer just an IT problem, but a bottom-line business concern that needs a holistic and strategic approach to protecting the whole organisation.”

How poor security posture impacts company value and customer loyalty

A portfolio of share prices was composed for 113 publicly traded benchmarked companies who had experienced a data breach involving the loss of customer or consumer data. The index value was tracked 30 days prior to the announcement of the data breach and 120 days following the data breach.

- These companies experienced a 5 per cent price decline immediately following the disclosure of the breach. More revealing are those companies with a strong security posture – companies that have made investments in people, process and technologies—which are less likely to see a decline in share prices mainly because they are better equipped to respond.

- Those companies with a self-reported superior security posture saw a decline of no more than three per cent, and after 120 days following a breach, successfully rebounded with a three percent gain in stock price prior to the breach. In contrast, those with a poor security posture experienced a share price decline as high as seven per cent, and 120 days following the breach, did not fully recover the share price it had prior to the breach.

- Customer loyalty was also impacted with 65 per cent of consumers having lost trust in the breached company and 27 per cent of consumers discontinuing their relationship altogether.

Download the Ponemon report at: https://www.centrify.com/lp/ponemon-data-breach-brand-impact-uk/

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