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The Real Price of a Data Breach in Retail

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Businesses today operate in a fast-moving cyber threat landscape. As digital operations become more complex and cybercriminals launch increasingly sophisticated phishing and malware attacks, data breaches have become common occurrences. In 2024 alone, several high-profile companies, including Dell, AT&T, Ticketmaster and Disney have suffered the consequences of a major breach.

For retailers and consumer businesses, a surge in data breaches presents difficult challenges. From ecommerce, logistics and digital marketing, these sectors are heavily reliant on data for their day-to-day operations. This data, which includes sensitive customer information like credit card details, is stored across a number of environments and is accessible through millions of point-of-sales and IoT devices.

As a result, the retail and consumer industries have become an attractive target for cybercriminals, with research revealing that in 2023, retail and wholesale accounted for 11% of cybersecurity incidents.

In light of this, it’s critical that businesses strengthen their defenses. By investing in robust cybersecurity strategies and leveraging tools like AI and automation, retailers can reduce the rate and severity of data breaches, saving costs and maintaining customer trust.

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The Real Cost of a Data Breach

According to IBM’s 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average cost of a data breach globally rose to a record $4.88 million last year. This is a 10% increase over 2023’s mark and the highest yearly uptick since the pandemic.

In the retail and consumer sectors, the average cost of a security breach was below this average, sitting at $3.91 million and $3.48 million, respectively. While lower than the global average, the cost rose 18% year over year for retailers, showing that the risk is escalating rapidly.

Most of this financial loss stems from business disruption and post-breach customer response costs, such as providing financial compensation to the customer. This is now trickling down to consumers; almost two-thirds of organizations stated they would increase the price of their goods or services due to a breach.

This underscores a harsh reality for retailers; cost is not the only price they pay for a data breach.

Sustained success in the retail industry often relies on the direct relationships businesses establish with their customers, and price hikes can undermine these relationships.

In addition, retailers are responsible for vast amounts of financial and personal customer data, and breaches leave consumers themselves vulnerable to fraud and theft. Failure to adequately protect this data and, critically, failure to act appropriately and transparently once a violation has been detected, can pose significant reputational risks. It can seriously damage trust with your customer base — a price that retailers cannot afford in a highly competitive economic climate.

Launching a Proactive Counter Strategy

To mitigate this risk, retailers must adopt a proactive and holistic approach to cybersecurity, taking three key and decisive steps to fortify their defenses and prepare for further changes in the threat landscape.

1. Understand your data landscape and attack surface.
A large global retailer will distribute data across multiple environments, including on-premises, private clouds and public clouds, with data pouring in from international offices, online platforms and even in-person stores. Security teams must ensure full visibility across all these environments to effectively monitor and protect the data.

Adopting a risk management approach is essential, where data encryption strategies consider the types of data, its use and where it resides to lower the impact in case of a breach. Unmanaged data sources and unencrypted data, including data in AI workloads, further exacerbate the risk. Consistent and comprehensive protection can be achieved by using tools such as identity access management (IAM) and attack surface management (ASM) across all hybrid environments. IBM research showed that the retail and consumer industries save an average of $223,000 in a breach when they have IAM tailored to their environment.

2. Deploy AI and automation security tools.
While IBM’s study revealed an increase in businesses using AI and automation solutions extensively in their cybersecurity strategy, it’s still only around 30% for both retail and consumer businesses (up from 25% last year).

AI isn’t a silver bullet, but it’s undoubtedly becoming a mission-critical tool for business, as it can rapidly analyze vast amounts of data, recognize patterns of malicious behavior early and harness diverse data sets to predict potential attacks. Machine learning capabilities can continuously learn and adapt to new threats, enhancing defense capabilities.

In fact, companies that deploy security AI and automation are able to locate and contain data breaches almost 100 days faster than organizations that do not use these technologies, saving a substantial $1.9 million per incident. This benefit is particularly pertinent for retailers who took, on average, 280 days to identify and contain a breach – 33 days longer than the global average.

3. Ensure robust security and incident response training.
Human error causes almost a quarter of all attacks in the retail and consumer space. Given the expanding threat landscape and the tendency for actors to target finance and HR teams, it’s crucial to provide security training to all staff, including non-security professionals, so that the rate of incidents can be improved.

Cyber crisis simulation exercises involving both security teams and business leaders are also highly effective in improving an organization’s ability to detect and respond to breaches. Internal and external communication during and after a breach must form part of this exercise. A well-rehearsed response can reassure employees and reduce internal stress during an attack, and the right external communications are critical for maintaining principles of transparency and trust.

Focus on Long-Term Outcomes

In a world where cyberattacks have become increasingly inevitable, investing in appropriate defense strategies will pay dividends for retailers in mitigating the financial and reputational impact of these attacks. These organizations should adopt advanced technologies, establish robust data security policies and offer employee training to enhance long-term security outcomes.


As General Manager Global Manufacturing and Distribution, Jeff Schlageter is responsible for IBM’s revenue and business results across North America, EMEA, Asia Pacific, and Japan. His team oversees six industries, including retail and distribution, driving IBM’s Hybrid Cloud and AI strategy for IBM Technology, Red Hat and IBM Consulting. With 27 years of global leadership experience in General Management, Sales, Strategy, and Consulting, Schlageter is known for building high-performance teams and trusted client relationships. Previously, he held leadership roles with Honda North America and other key IBM divisions. He was elected to the Catena-X Board of Directors in May 2023. Schlageter lives in Columbus, Ohio, with his family.

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