WM Morrison’s data breach may change how businesses secure their important Data

Though customer’s data is safe, employees had £176,000 stolen as a result of hackers. How were hackers able to infiltrate a small supermarket chain’s network and steal data? What does a breach of this type mean for discounters and the future of store sales? Even though no customer sales were compromised, it might inspire more shoppers to spend their money online.

It might also mean the company will be forced to sell or close, since losses could be more than £375m, half of last year’s losses. Can this company afford another giant loss this year? Morrison’s may not be able to raise prices to compensate for this data breach. Customers likely are already feeling the squeeze from last year’s business losses.

Are losses opening the door for discount grocery chains, such as Aldi’s or Lidl, to take Root?

Customers may lean towards shopping at discount chains because they feel they can get better prices on items. But, the advent of online shopping is changing the way supermarkets view their fixed costs. With fixed, physical locations, a supermarket business has several fixed cost prices that do not have to be considered with an online business.

It isn’t the prices alone that may change the course of shopping in physical stores. With the new European Data Protection law on the verge of being approved in Parliament, a business, such as WM Morrison, may also face a fine of five percent of the global costs of their profits.  Another added advantage is that a breach can lead to deflation and also bring about lower prices on store items.

Holes in security may mean companies need to do background, better checks on Employees

Though still under investigation, officials are looking into the possibility that the supermarket data breach could be an inside theft. But, what does this mean for businesses which may already struggle to keep employee and customer data safe?

As security breaches grow, customers are becoming more cautious about who has their personal data. How can businesses reassure customers and employees that their personal data is going to be safe in the future? According to a cyber-security company, Clearswift, the data breach at WM Morrison proves that organisations need to monitor for external and also internal threats so that their data is safe from hackers and thieves.

Do you think the data theft at WM Morrison is a sign of more data thefts to come or an isolated incident? Will the incident at WM Morrison help to push through the Data Protection law in Parliament? We recover data from hard drives, Memory sticks, Raid systems and more.