No matter the size of the organization, businesses now have to go to great pains to prevent malicious cyber attacks. Astoundingly, around 87% of small businesses experienced a security breach in 2012, so every company could potentially be a target. When data breaches occur in large chains or websites like Target and Yahoo, millions of customers and users are at risk for becoming victims of identity theft and fraud.
It’s always surprising when large corporations like these don’t do more to protect their clients. But Toys”R”Us has shown that some enterprises have the proper security in place and will come forth in a timely manner to warn their customers about a potential threat.
The Toys”R”Us IT security team has an issued an alert for customers with Rewards”R”Us accounts pertaining to a recent attempted breach. They believe that cyber criminals were trying to get access to account information including names, email addresses, mailing addresses, and phone numbers of loyalty program members. These thieves tried to gain unauthorized access to members’ accounts and redeem reward program coupons sometime between November 11, 2016 and January 17, 2017.
They estimate that the breach was related to a previously reported incident that took place through the vendor that manages their reward program; this vendor is not affiliated with Toys”R”Us. Thieves stole login names and passwords during that breach.
However, Toys”R”Us does not believe that any of their members’ accounts were actually accessed or that members’ passwords have been compromised. Still, they’re recommending that loyalty members change their passwords as a protective measure.
Ironically, studies have shown that data breaches drastically reduce customer loyalty. In a survey of 9,000 American consumers, the majority stated that they would not continue to do business with a company that experienced a breach wherein their sensitive data was stolen. Considering that the average cost of a corporate data breach has increased to $3.5 million, organizations like this have a lot to lose in the event that a breach should be successful.
Fortunately, Toys”R”Us had the system in place to prevent such a breach from occurring. They are working closely with the vendor that manages their rewards program to ensure extra security measures are taken for the future.
Customers with additional questions or concerns are implored to call the Toys”R”Us customer care line at 1-800-TOYSRUS.