You do need to be worried about the threat of a hack on your business. Hacks are dangerous, and if thieves or criminals steal the right information, they could easily obliterate your company. Remember, when a business is hacked, it might seem like you are the one being targeted. But really, it’s your customers that are in trouble. Let’s look at some examples of this by exploring the greatest hacks in history. We’ll start with one of the most damaging.
Sony
In 2014, Sony produced a little-known film called ‘The Interview.’ That’s not an exaggeration, when it was in production, The Interview was barely on the radar of the people intrigued about movies. If there had been no controversy. The Interview would have picked up a very small profit from the box office and sunk into the Abyss. However, the movie was based on the idea of two reporters killing Kim-Jong-Un’s which included a scene of his face being melted off.
It soon became clear that Sony had been hacked with information leaking out and more threatened if the film was not pulled. At first, this seemed like a clever marketing ploy but as more embarrassing info was revealed it became clear the company had been targeted. Sony lost their position as one of the major film studios and arguably have been struggling to recover ever since.
Hilton Hotels
You would think that a chain of hotels as large and prestigious as Hilton would have top notch financial security, particularly on purchases, right? Wrong, because a hack in 2015 allowed thieves to access credit card accounts used in the hotels and siphon off millions. This highlights why it is so important that your financial transactions in your business are iron clad. You don’t want to be in a position where customers trace a fraud on their account back to your business.
DNS Server Hack 2016
In 2016, multiple companies were affected by a DNS server hack. If you aren’t technical, you might not realize that a DNS server is what allows people to find websites they want to visit online. It’s the system behind the SERPs. When the hack occurred many sites including the BBC news were removed from it. It’s not clear how much business was lost that day for similar companies, but the effects were certainly severe. With the right IT support in place companies can gain access to network security that may, at the very least, warn them of when there is a danger on their systems.
Target 2013
The massive store was forced to apologise after over 100 million profiles of their online customers were hacked and information was stolen. This exposed all their customers to fraud, and it has left a mark on their reputation to this day. It’s worth pointing out that customers do not tend to forgive a company after they have been hacked. Many customers abandoned Target completely.
If there is a hack on your business, you’ll have to work hard to ensure that you can rebuild your reputation. But the best way to deal with this is to make sure you are never hacked in the first place.
