Why Honest, Open Communication Can Counter The Reputational Risks Of Cyber Attacks

Modern retailers are data driven, and valuable PII and payment data makes any organisation selling online an attractive and obvious target for attackers to either steal data or deny access to it (seeking a ransom).

The retail industry is actively targeted; a recent whitepaper by Sophos - The State of Ransomware in Retail 2022 - reported a dramatic increase in the level of attacks against the sector: "77% of retail organisations were hit by ransomware in 2021, up from 44% in 2020."

It is now no longer a matter of when or if the attack happens, but how much damage it causes and whether the organisation can survive.

Organisations correctly spend considerable resources on increasing security to reduce the likelihood and impact of an attack by implementing protective and reactive controls, like patching, configuration management and SOCs (Security Operations Centres), which will have a significant impact in reducing the level of risk.