Retailers who worry about data and PII security issues were reminded Friday (June 21) that they have to worry about not only about their own systems, but the security mechanisms of every data-sharing partner. And given the social media goals of most chains, the fact that it was Facebook fessing up to a 6-million-user data leak didn't help their nerves. It didn't help matters that Facebook said it discovered the problem the week of June 10, fixed it within 24 hours but didn't reveal the problem until late in the day on June 21. (Want to bury news? Release it at 4:50 PM on a Friday in late June.)
The details of the breach illustrate how innocuously these problems can crop up and how destructive they can be. And when your shoppers are hurt because the data they shared with you gets stolen, the blame falls on the retailer regardless of whether your team had anything to do with the breach. It's not pleasant, but there is something you can do about it.
