http://money.cnn.com/2014/09/18/technology/security/home-depot-hack/index.html?iid=HP_River
Another major retailer has been hit by hackers. This time, Home Depot has been targeted, exposing over 56 million credit and debit cards. Company spokespeople have stated that the bug is now out of their system and that they are diligently working on beefing up their cyber security in order to prevent future breeches.
In today's world, where many transactions are completed via electronic means, there are immense opportunities for hackers to attempt to steal peoples information. In order to continue on this trend of e-money we need to ensure that our money stays protected when these transactions occur.
This certainly isn't the first occurrence of incidents among this nature. Home Depot has now put their name on the list of companies whose consumer's information has been hacked. It is frustrating hearing this happen to several companies yet it still continues therefore the question rises of how safe is ones personal banking information in the hands of a large company like Home Depot? I agree with you Bryce in terms of the longevity of e-money. If this happens once or more each year then people aren't going to end up purchasing through electronic means which could hurt many entities.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it wouldn't surprise me if Home Depot saw a decrease in sales for a while. People will be hesitant to trust the cyber security. While some people who were exposed may resort to using cash, most people typically don't carry that much cash because cards are too convenient and easy. Hopefully this incident will encourage programmers to step up their game and figure out how to stop this from happening. This is why cash money is probably one of the better mediums of exchange, rather than a card. Credit and debit cards have so much more information tied to them, and if the culprit isn't caught, the exposure of this information could be so damaging to a persons life. If someone just steals your cash money, yeah you might be out some cash, but your name, social security number and contact information is still in your possession.
ReplyDeleteThis definitely a hard blow for home depot and its customers whether loyal or not. Personally, I would have a hard time trusting any future transaction just because its mentally hard to accept that you are vulnerable financially. These days, with limited income, such news will definitely scare away some customers which is understandable. Technology makes everything easier for all of us, but in times like these technology can go against us.
ReplyDeleteHome Depot now has a negative connotation when you think of them. Their stock price has fallen since the incident has happened. Once they have been hacked the amount of customers declines. Even if these customers pay with cash, the insecurity of Home Depot will always be in the back of their mind. Other companies can learn from this by taking extra securities to prevent hacking. Hacking might not provide long term sales losses, but their will be an immediate shock which can hurt a company.
ReplyDeleteThis will affect Home Depot immensely for at least the next couple of months in terms of customers buying from their stores. Once Home depot has the proper and upgraded security things will soon be back to normal in terms of sales. People may go to a substitute store like Lowes for the times being. People need to be careful about giving away their financial and personal information so quickly and need to trust the website.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a big problem that effect not just Home Depot customers but the rest of society. We are moving towards an "electronic" everything world. Paying with cash has slowed up and i believe carrying credit cards will change also. We can pay with things by just scanning our phones. All of these new technology advances are great and easy to use but with new technology comes opportunities to do such things like steal credit card information.
ReplyDeleteThis is extremely unsettling. Most purchases today are done using credit cards and the fact that someone can expose this many peoples personal financial information is scary. Although we are moving towards different ways to pay rather than credit cards, our information is still out there and I believe that hackers will still find a way to expose our information unfortunately. Companies like Home Depot need to find a more secure way to keep peoples information.
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