Search the Internet to find a recent case of a database breach and post the link, summarize the incident, and express your legal and ethical concerns.
I chose Home Depot because I am an account and stockholder for this company. Hackers breached Home Depot’s network by installing a malware that stole account holder’s log on credentials, payment data, and email address information. The success of Home Depot had grown significantly since the recession and was the most successful of all stores in the home improvement industry. Somewhere along line of great success, their database was compromised due to insufficient security, which alarmed some 56 million-account holders. The measures to repair the data breach cost Home Depot billions of dollars. The breach affected their stock and daily business transactions. I would think that most customers would use more cash instead of credit card in fear of being part of the breach. Home Depot and Lowes are the Mongols in the home improvement industry so impact on revenues are highly unlikely due the increase in the housing market and economy.
…show more content…
One improvement was enhanced encryption measure at the time of purchase to assure customers that their cards transactions where protected. They are also transitioning to EMV Chip-and-Pin technology and eventually eliminate the strip on the back of the cards.
The breach did not affect me thus far, so legally I have no intentions to pursue and recoupments. However, if my account is compromised; I will seek legal assistance to protect my claim.
I received several letters in the mail informing me of the breach and what measures to take to if my account was compromised. Ethically, I feel the Home Depot reached out to their account holders and kept us up to par on what measures were being taken to protect further damages.
Financial Analysis The Home Depot has consistently produced excellent financial numbers, especially over the past few years. These results solidify them as the leader in the industry. Strong financials and pure size of the company are two contributing factors to success. As importantly, statistical analysis show The Home Depot to be an extremely well managed corporation. Total sales from Q3 2016 totaled $22.15 billion, an increase of 6.1% from the year prior.
In addition, the business data will be stored on these devices, being or not protected only by the individual security awareness of each employee. Therefore, it is likely that the confidentiality of corporate data will be compromised if an employee’s device is lost or stolen. Take Godiva, a chocolate manufacturer, as an example. On November 25, 2014, they notified employees of the company of a data breach when a Human Resources employee, who was traveling to retail sites, had a briefcase stolen from a car. The briefcase contained a laptop that had employee information on it.
HIPPA Breaches A Common Legal Issue in Healthcare When it pertains to patient health information discretion is paramount. Protecting patients from threats that could endanger their rights is essential and the primary reason for safeguarding their personal information is to secure the interest of the individuals who are entrusting the organization with their information. There are however breaches to individuals’ private health information. In the healthcare field one common legal issue is HIPPA and data breaches.
When considering the actions of customers, the consideration must be made to the comprehensive experience of the customer during their experience as a customer. From entering the store, to perusing the aisles, contemplating service purchases, employee service and solicitation, to ease of purchase and exit. Each step the customer takes from outside the store, to in, and back out again all influence the overall experience and impression of the service provided by the vendor. (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2013) In the case of the home improvement store, Lowes, the customer experience is geared toward the homeowner rather than the commercial builder.
A great example of fraud was when Peter and the two employees hacked the corporate system in order to transfer money to their personal accounts. Moreover, theft is executed when they stole the copier machine with the only intention to destruct it. These types of frauds have been considered misappropriation of assets since both, the money and the copier machine, were counted as a part of the company assets and they as employees of the IT company abuse of their job positions to benefit their personal needs through the omission of fraudulent
1 Target missed alarms led to 40 million credit card numbers has been stolen. On Thanksgiving Day 2013, someone installed malware in Target’s (TGT) security and payments system designed to steal every credit card used at the company’s U.S. stores. And when the Christmas gifts had been scanned and bagged and the cashier asked for a swipe, the malware would step in, capture the shopper’s credit card number, and store it on a Target server commandeered by the hackers. Target claimed that the initial breaking- in its systems was traced back to network credentials that were stolen from a third party vendor.
Introduction Employees are the most often cited cause of a successful cyberattack. (Socialnomics) There is no definitive single source that answers your question, but Verizon’s 2015 Data Breach Investigations Report revealed that 50% of all security breaches were caused by people inside the organization. (CNBC) In a more recent statistic indicated that over 90% of successful cyberattacks traced back to an employee who unintentionally gives away their system’s ID or access credentials.
According to Riley, M., Elgin, B., Lawrence, D., & Matlack, C. (2014), this was the largest retail computer hack in all of U.S. history. Target has incurred over Over $122 million in expenses and the damage is far from over (Target Corporation, n.d.). Target is; however, responding appropriately with offering free credit monitoring through a partnership that they developed with Experian in hopes to regain consumer trust and confidence (Target Corporation,
After the unfortunate breach that led to credit card information on Henry and Mae’s information systems being compromised, it became self-evident that steps needed to take prevent another possible security incident or breach from happening again. Through the risk management process, we will successfully be able to successfully identify all of the risks to Henry and Mae’s business and mitigate each risk to a level that is acceptable. After completing the asset identification and receiving feedback from Henry and Mae, we have narrowed the risk management process down to looking at the assets that are most critical to Henry and Mae’s operations. This allowed us to move on to the vulnerability identification phase of the risk management process.
For operational purposes, the company collects and stores confidential information about their customers, employees, suppliers, and vendors. For purposes of their rewards program, the company collects sensitive and confidential consumer information. Although security measures and information technology systems have been put in place to ensure secure transmission and storage of confidential information, security breaches, computer viruses, or even human error can occur. Any of these events could cause data to be lost or stolen, as well as disclosed and used with malicious intent. Such occurrence could lead to litigation, fines, increased security costs, and damage to
The steps taken after being notified call for a change to Home Depot’s policy in hiring sub-contractors. That meant spending money in background checks and fining anyone who do not keep current their information. Having any type of bad publicity is not good for the company or management. If Home Depot continued to hire felons they would lose their
I know we are talking about credit, but this is not a class on finance, and I am most defiantly not a life coach. I’m talking about credit because today I want to talk about the recent Equifax hack. If you haven’t heard about the Equifax hack, I promptly ask you to return to the US from whatever planet you’re currently living on. Wikipedia cites Equifax as a consumer credit reporting agency that collects
A company that was unethical accounting decisions that were made public was Groupon. Groupon accounting scandal was made public shortly after the company went public (four months) with share starting at $20. The company raised over 900 million dollars from the sale of their stock. However, of the 946 million that was made 810 million went to the CEO and other privileged investors by using a private offering. Groupon’s accounting irregularities were exposed when federal regulators began to question the finical reporting documents that were provided by the company.
Not only that but also as the worst case scenario, stolen or altered data can lead to many financial effects that are not known to the company much later. At this point there is nothing much you
Investigations are still under way to confirm the details surrounding the incident as well as the depth of the hack into the site, and recent information surfaced from investigators stating that no breach has been detected. Regardless, customers and others are immensely infuriated over the incident. Some believe that the company should have handled the situation better, while others have spoken out saying that their identities, as well as money from their accounts, had been