Cyberattacks are on the rise, with over 1,000 data breaches occurring at U.S. organizations in 2016 alone, most often through hacking or external theft. And it isn’t only violated firms that are hurt by these incidents. Studying hundreds of data breaches, our research has found that they create significant ripples that affect other companies in the industry.
Research: A Strong Privacy Policy Can Save Your Company Millions
Here are the Fortune 100 companies with the best and worst policies.
February 15, 2018
Osman Rana/Hayon Thapaliya/Unsplash
Summary.
Cyberattacks are on the rise, and it isn’t only violated firms that are hurt by them. New research finds that hacked firms’ rivals can also suffer negative financial effects — but these effects can be mitigated by having good privacy practices. In particular, firms with privacy policies that are transparent about how the company uses customer data and that give customers a high degree of control over their data can protect themselves when their rivals are hacked. The upside to having a strong privacy policy can be considerable: The researchers found it can save some companies hundreds of millions of dollars.
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New!
HBR Learning
HBR Learning
Customer Focus Course
Accelerate your career with Harvard ManageMentor®. HBR Learning’s online leadership training helps you hone your skills with courses like Customer Focus. Earn badges to share on LinkedIn and your resume. Access more than 40 courses trusted by Fortune 500 companies.
Learn how to keep your customers—and their most important needs—front and center.