Data Security

The pace of business is accelerating. In 1860, the first westbound pony express trip left St. Joseph, Missouri for San Francisco and arrived 10 days later. Quite a feat, but this morning my email inbox filled faster than I could open messages. Or, even if the pace of business remains relatively steady, certainly the pace…

Every e-tailer fears its website going down, however, a website that’s been reduced to a snail’s pace because of a high volume of traffic can almost be more damaging. Today’s always-on consumers expect lightning-fast connections and load times, as if everyone can deliver the same user experience as Netflix. In fact, a study from Kissmetrics…

In a recent conversation with the chief information security officer for a major retailer, I heard something that changed my perspective on the true impact cyber incidents can have on companies. He said, “At the end of the day, we sell basic consumer goods and people can go anywhere to get those things. It all…

After much talk about it over the last few years, the use of big data and mobile to improve consumers’ lives seems to finally be poised to become reality, and this is opening a new level of relationships between brands and their customers. The amount of data we have the capability to collect now is…

The back-to-school shopping season is upon us, and retailers’ e-commerce sites should be prepared for a shopping frenzy. eMarketer forecasts that this year's back-to-school sales will total $828.81 billion, a 2.6 percent increase over 2015. Furthermore, the e-commerce portion of back-to-school sales will continue to grow, jumping 15.3 percent this year to $65.42 billion. That…

Retailers large and small have taken it on the chin from hackers again this year. In addition to ongoing credit card scraping attacks on point-of-sale systems, this year brought an onslaught of successful phishing data attacks targeting W-2 documents with employees’ tax and identity information. One recent example was Sprouts, a Phoenix-based supermarket chain with…

Traditionally, retailers’ marketing teams have been responsible for brand awareness and increasing market share through typical efforts such as email campaigns, ads and promotions. The emergence of the digital business era, marked by a sharp uptick in shopping online, has rocked marketing teams to their core. They must now expand their focus to consider IT…

According to a recent Harris Poll, most Americans don’t trust anyone with their data. This includes companies they deal with regularly, like banks and retailers. And it’s no surprising. It seems like a common occurrence to see headlines reveal yet another retailer hit with a data breach. Americans are starting to feel that data breaches…

In today's news roundup, find out why Home Depot is suing Visa and MasterCard; the issue that almost caused Macy's workers in New York City to go on strike; Wal-Mart's strategy for optimizing in-store workers; and Target's latest collaboration.

Retailers are in the crosshairs as cybercriminals search for wired and wireless networks that are vulnerable to sophisticated attacks.