Bill Hurley
Zappos Breach: 8 Lessons Learned
January 17, 2012 12:30 PM
In an unfortunate set of events, Zappos.com was
hacked, leaving 24 million of its customers with their privacy breached. This has
led to eight lessons that a business should focus on when being in a virtual
aspect of the market. Number one is to advance planning mitigates breach
fallout, which Zappos did fallow through with but there is still a chance of
breach. So, it would be smart to put all credit card and user data in a
separate database. Number two is to create a response plan in advance. Zappos
did mane a precautionary plan, which all employees were emailed with details of
the breach and had them notify customers. Now this part of any business plan
that includes the public as a whole reacting to something comes number three,
issuing a timely and clear warning. With Zappos, they immediately issued a
clear and timely notified its customers of the breach. They were notified to change
passwords and the list goes on. In step four, it covers how to secure stored
credit card data with crypts. These are really helpful because the hacker never
got the credit card info from Zappos for this reason. Next with number five, you
have to notify customers in multiple ways. Zappos only emailed its customers,
while a good provision would be to use other methods as well. Something all
businesses that go overseas with their merchandise because of an online market
is that you have to think about these people as well, not just people from the U.S..
number six is to focus on the customers your business holds outside of the
United States. Now number seven is to tap external sites if necessary. Zappos
did not do this and it really hurt their reputation with customers from other
countries because they cut them off to slow down internet traffic on that site.
Lastly, number eight is to pick the right breach support channels. Zappos cut
phone support but informed all employees to help customers with their questions
or concerns, this is a good call because it let their customers know that they
cared and were trying to fix what went wrong with everyone’s accounts.
I heard about this too. I think security on the internet needs to become more secure. The article I read delt with similar issues. I also think that the eight steps you listed from the article will help them. Every company should have plans like those in place to deal with unsuspecting dangers. I think it will take a while for Zappos to build its reputation back up, but with these eight steps in place I think it will help them build it quicker. I don’t know if they will ever get their reputation fully back, especially those who lost private information when they were hacked, but with these steps in place it will maximize Zapppos chances in getting them back.
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