With the world becoming more interconnected, business professionals must emphasize more upon security of their organizations. Day to day newspapers are flooded with stories of hackers bringing organizations to their knees, with frequent, more calculated and widespread cyberattacks, as evinced by recent hacks involving financial institutions like JPMorgan Chase & Co., home improvement retailer The Home Depot and e-commerce giant eBay Inc.
With the propagation of such attacks and subsequent breaches, establishments are defied to find ways to defend their data assets and create a proper response plan. This is particularly significant for companies that engross with multiple third-party sellers, store personally recognizable information or uphold highly valued patent portfolios.
Research shows that 78% of establishments have experienced a data breach in the past two years. That’s a horrifically large number. “The significances of a data breach for an organization can be huge,” says Lloyd Alexander, Vice President of Corporate Strategy at Seal Software in a podcast interview. “Just look at Target. That data breach happened nearly two years ago and we still reference it when talking about one of the worst data breaches we’ve ever seen”.
The largest repercussions of a data breach can usually be seen in two main areas:
Financial: The financial damage of a data breach can extend beyond losses of revenue and providing compensation for the affected customers. Companies might also have to face regulatory fines.
Reputational: The reputational impact of a data breach can be one of the hardest to measure and overcome.
Thus, in response to a breach which has already occurred, the following could be taken into account:
A company’s procurement department likely holds most of the contracts. This means procurement teams needs to be thinking about the number of vendors and suppliers a data breach could impact.
A company must also know their obligations to those vendors and suppliers after a data breach – how long do you have to notify a company or individual? What fines could you face? This is a lot of information to keep track of and even harder information to track down in the middle a chaotic data breach.
This is where Seal Software can help. Seal’s technology allows procurement teams to access all of that information nearly instantaneously, making sure they follow the proper protocol laid out in each vendor and supplier contract. This will save time and money, and most important, reputation.
Listen to the My Purchasing Center podcast, Data Breach Terms Need to be in Procurement Contracts.
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