Research: One-third retail, restaurant, hospitality sectors experienced data breach

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 12 -- New data reveals while nearly all (96 per cent) surveyed retail, restaurant and hospitality stakeholders are confident in their companies’ internal risk assessment processes, their satisfaction (95 per cent) in the security of their systems is misaligned with reality, as one-third of companies (31 per cent) have experienced a data breach in their company's history.

Of companies that have been breached, 89 per cent have been hit more than once in a year, and 69 per cent of retail businesses have been breached upwards of three times in a year, according to a statement.

This is according to the new data released by Cornell University’s Center for Hospitality Research and FreedomPay, a global leader in data-driven commerce.

Check Please! How Restaurant, Retail and Hospitality Businesses are Managing Cybersecurity Risks – a joint study between Cornell and FreedomPay – is based on a new survey of small, medium, and large-size enterprises across the hospitality, retail, and food and beverage sectors, conducted by Hanover Research and included 300 respondents.

With new cyber threats emerging daily both internally and externally, business leaders are juggling a full slate of concerns and challenges.

Threats such as payment integrity (59 per cent) and malware (58 per cent) are the most cited concerns, with risk management (57 per cent) cited as the biggest challenge leaders say their systems face.

Companies also fear internal threats, with hospitality companies most frequently citing human error (86 per cent) and lack of employee education (81 per cent) as negatively impacting cybersecurity systems.

In addition, businesses are challenged to balance security with customer preferences, with many implementing heightened cybersecurity measures to make their customers feel more secured and reassured when making a purchase.

The study found that 91 per cent of companies believe their customers deeply care about cybersecurity while 86 per cent believe it increases customer loyalty.

More details at www.freedompay.com.

-- BERNAMA