Documents filed in federal court regarding the January data breach of Amazon.com subsidiary, Zappos.com, shows the online shoe retailer’s data security team had detected the cyber-intruder while the hack was in progress. Zappos.com team members were able to thwart the breach before critical customer data was stolen, but the damage to its brand reputation continues to this day. This incident highlights tremendous obstacles that Internet-based companies face when it comes to building and maintaining client confidence. Customers feel that companies are not doing enough to protect their online personal and financial information from hackers, and such sentiment has emboldened plaintiff class action attorneys to file lawsuits.
This leads to the question of “cloud integrity,” and more specifically to the integrity of Amazon.com’s cloud, since it is presumed that’s where the hacking incident spawned. Until ecommerce businesses can assure their clientele that personal and financial information is secure in cyber-space, the growth of the industry will only be moderately successful. In thwarting the attack, Zappos.com showed it had a comprehensive team and plan in place that could take adequate measures to prevent a cyber-incident from happening. Yet, with all those measures in place, their mission critical data was infiltrated, and the damage to Zappos.com’s reputation may override the utility of the information sought by the hackers.