BDO's Cyber Security

Make no mistake, the retail and consumer products industry is facing an increasing number of sophisticated cyber attacks by state hackers, criminal cyber attack groups and politically and socially motivated computer hackers. These attacks are often planned, coordinated and implemented cyber programs, with integrated attacks nationally and internationally. 

Unfortunately, the global retail industry does not have enough information and research on cybersecurity policies, plans, procedures, and defense methodology, especially with their respective supply chain partners (suppliers). As a result, the average cost of a cyber data breach in the retail industry continues to increase each year and so does the average cost of cyber liability insurance coverage. 

In addition, more and more companies face lawsuits from their own shareholders, consumer protection groups, and government agencies for negligence in not providing an adequate information security program by their organization, which usually results in some financial losses and negative impacts on their reputation as a company. 

This report is entirely focused on the growing cyber threats of the retail industry. Retail cyberattacks affect every consumer in the world through: increased prices for products and services, possible compromise of personally identifiable information, potential theft of personal credit information, potential identity theft, possible theft or loss of products already purchased, potential loss of value of shares or other actions taken in the retail industry, all as a result of cyber data breaches, cyber scams and commercial mail commitments.