A Hacked Business Could Lose 75% of Customers, Study Says

Businesses in the UK could lose up to 75% of their customers in case of a data breach, according to a study conducted by Centrify on 2,400 people in the UK, Germany and the US.

“If three-quarters of customers are prepared to walk away from a business if it has been compromised, then what kind of message is this sending to those organizations?” says Bill Mann, Chief Product Officer at Centrify. “We would say that it is a very clear call to action to those businesses to sort out their processes and do everything they can to protect confidential customer information.

Consumers are worried that businesses are not investing enough in security, exposing them to hacking attacks and risking their customers” personal and financial information. The respondents who expressed concern over businesses” taking responsibility for their actions are either tech-savvy, online shoppers or former victims of cyberattacks.

“When companies put customer data at risk they are really putting their entire business at risk. People simply will not tolerate doing business with potentially risky organizations, so it”s time for them to take full responsibility for their security and put the proper measures in place once and for all,” Mann adds.

Membership and hospitality businesses, retailers and travel sites have the worst reputation when it comes to security, while financial institutions rank the highest. Businesses encourage customers to regularly monitor bank transactions and change their passwords and to never reuse passwords for multiple accounts. In fewer cases, some companies mention the implementation of multi-factor authentication or security freeze.