Member Article

Cybersecurity breach at Neiman Marcus will test consumers’ retail confidence warns PCI Pal

With news reports suggesting the retailer Neiman Marcus has been the subject of a cybersecurity incident, payment security specialist PCI Pal is urging firms to step-up protection of sensitive payment card data with de-scoping payment security technologies to put a stop to hackers accessing sensitive financial information.

Neiman Marcus Group confirmed it has notified approximately 4.6 million online customers that personal information such as name, contact information and credit card numbers may have been accessed in a hack.

A 2020 consumer survey from PCI Pal found that a significant 63% of UK respondents would stop shopping with a brand for a few years, or even permanently, if personal data has been compromised. This demonstrates the potential damage a breach of this nature can have not only to reputation but potential future revenues and must be taken seriously as retailers prepare for the busy November and December shopping periods.

Geoff Forsyth, Chief Information Security Officer of PCI Pal said, “Retailers are still finding their feet following the pandemic and breaches like this have the ability to really knock consumer confidence. Our research has shown that many consumers will tend to avoid a retailer that has suffered a cybersecurity breach.

“It’s an extremely hard lesson for merchants to learn from, however using descoping technologies as part of the payment process will help retailers in the long-run. By avoiding storing customers’ payment card data on internal systems in the first place, it removes the associated risks of such data falling into the wrong hands should a data breach occur.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by PCI Pal .