Cybersecurity in the Retail & Consumer Goods industry 

In 2018, the retail and consumer goods industry faced 198 significant, publicly reported breaches. The most sought-after data in these breaches was customer card data and personally identifiable information (PII).

Despite many dissimilarities in the consumer industry—which includes markets ranging from retail, media and food, to consumer products, travel and hospitality—companies in this sector have a lot in common when it comes to cybersecurity.

We surveyed 211 organizations across six industries and 27 countries for our State of Cybersecurity 2019 report—to get a thorough understanding of the current state of cybersecurity worldwide. This article focuses on the data we gathered from organizations in the retail and consumer goods space, and highlights trends in cybersecurity throughout the industry.

For example, across the sector, digital transformation is being expedited by the adoption of connected technologies, while budgets for chief information security officers (CISOs), as a percentage of IT budgets, are still low compared to other industries.

As regulatory pressure for greater security increases, this will change, but the struggle represents one of the most significant cybersecurity challenges for the consumer industry: Promoting data protection at the core of the business culture.