Zappos Data Breach Response a Good Idea Or Just Panic Mode?

By Ellen Messmer

January 17, 2012 — Network World — In acknowledging a data breach in which information related to as many as 24 million customers was stolen, online shoe and clothing retailer Zappos has taken assertive steps, including compelling customers to change passwords, plus temporarily foregoing 800-number phone service in an effort to redeploy customer-service representatives to respond to customer email.

These steps are all part of the breach response strategy undertaken last Sunday as Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh posted an open letter online to Zappos employees about a "cyberattack by a criminal who gained access to parts of our internal network and systems through one of our servers in Kentucky." In this open letter, Hsieh wrote, "The most important focus for us now right now is the safety and security of our customers' information. Within the next hour, we will begin the process of notifying the 24+ million customer accounts in our database about the incident and help them through the process of choosing a new password for their accounts," adding that the existing customer passwords had been terminated.

MORE ON DATA BREACHES: RSA chief: Last year's breach has silver lining

So far, analysts and customers have a mixed reaction to the approach Zappos -- now part of Amazon -- has taken, which also included sending out an email notification on Sunday night to customers informing them of the breach.

Zappos says the attacker likely gained access to customer name, email address, billing and shipping addresses, phone numbers, the last four digits of the customer card numbers and the customer's "cryptographically scrambled password." But other payment data, such as full credit-card and payment information, is not believed to have been accessed by the attacker.

Overall, the Zappos response strategy is "not a good idea," contends John D'Arcy, assistant professor of information technology at the University of Notre Dame. The Zappos decision to terminate customer password access creates a situation that makes it appear "it's a panic mode" and would likely create a sense of panic. "Maybe they went overboard," he says. He says the motivation for the attack is probably to gain information to sell to competitors on the black market. However, phishing attacks to try and steal more customer information are also a possibility.

Other analysts generally praised the Zappos response. Gartner analyst John Pescatore, while noting he doesn't know if Zappos sufficiently protected its systems or not, said he finds the Zappo public response to be a good one so far, especially in terms of communicating publicly, adding "avoiding exposures of course is much better."

• Print