Top US Retail Data Breaches, 2003-2014 [CHART]

Top US Retail Data Breaches, 2003-2014 [CHART]

Whether it’s emails informing retail customers about stolen passwords, product ads that stubbornly follow online shoppers around the web, or smartphone tracking in-store, sometimes it can feel like genuine digital privacy and security are a thing of the past, according to a new eMarketer report, “Privacy and Security Post-Heartbleed: Making Shoppers Feel Safer.”

There has always been some degree of concern over digital privacy and personal data, but until recently, consumer attitudes had remained relatively steady. With electronic surveillance by the US government in the news, followed by Target’s data breach during the height of the holiday shopping season, 2013 set the stage for a more skeptical era, one that continues to snowball with incidents like the Heartbleed security bug discovered in April 2014 and the May 2014 cyberattack on eBay. Read the rest at eMarketer.