Website Security Website Security is important in helping to protect both consumers and corporations from security threats. As more and more companies make their products available online, and consumers continue to find online shopping more convenient, threats to website security continue to rise. These threats can come in the form of identity theft and lead to consumers’ finances being stolen and used by the offenders. This also creates a financial burden to companies, as they could be liable for the financial damages to consumers, along with losing some of the trust that their consumers may have for them.
Implications of a Security Breach Security breaches can be very damaging to an organization. Financially, it can be a nightmare, but a breach also means that the company will have to overhaul its website security practices and policies. For example, in August 2007, Monster Worldwide Inc., a company that runs Internet job boards Monster.com and USAJobs.gov, fell victim to a security breach that was very costly.(Hobson, 2014). According to NBC News, approximately 1.3 million people’s information was stolen. Normally, resumes do not contain any data that could be immediately damaging, such as Social Security Numbers, credit card numbers, and bank account numbers, but contact information can be used in phishing scams to gain more sensitive information. This security breach cost Monster $80 million in upgrades to improve the security of its site.(Bergstein, 2014). Target security breach. Target, one of the largest retailers in the United States, announced on December 19, 2013 that 40 million customers credit and debit cards had been compromised. According to The New York Times, Target ignored a hacker attack, which happened earlier in the year. Some would argue that Target should have made some upgrades to its security when the intrusion was