In
the wake of yet another high-profile hacking incident with a major U.S.
retailer, this time a breach at Home Depot compromising some 56M cards, with
malware having been injected into its open payment processing system (since
April, confirmed by the company itself) and just sitting there waiting to prey
on customers, there is sharply renewed interest in the subject of outsourcing
IT and unified communications to competent specialist firms who truly
understand the rapidly evolving digital security landscape. This is the latest
in a series of recent attacks that DHS and the Secret Service have quantified
as having affected as many as 1k retailers or more. One of the most notable
examples is last year’s Target (NYSE:TGT) breach, whose official $61M loss is
peanuts compared to the estimated $1B to $2B aggregate total cost estimates
calculated by the company’s executives when all external factors are
considered, including impact to brand identity with returning and new
customers.
With
the potential impact of the Home Depot (NYSE:HD) breach now looking like it
extends to all 2.2k stores (400 more than Target) and all indicators thus far
pointing back to Home Depot, the company is scrambling to handle the digital
forensics and cope with overall impact to daily operations. Home Depot has even
tapped top cybersecurity firms Symantec and FishNet Security to do costly
curing of their network ills, which could’ve likely been prevented altogether
with a more comprehensive approach to their digital security envelope. Not to
mention having prevented the “materially adverse effect on Home Depot’s
financial results in Q4 and/or future periods,” foreseen by the company and
stated in a press release.
The
Home Depot brand perception has already taken a big hit since the story broke.
With the YouGov BrandIndex rating off by 75%, the case serves as just the
latest in a long line of canary-in-the-coal-mine hack attacks, even occurring
against seemingly sophisticated operations you wouldn’t expect to be vulnerable.
Take the JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) security breach late last month, which may
have also included five other financial institutions (the source of which is
still unclear) and you being to realize how serious the problem truly is. JPM
has one of the largest and most sophisticated detection and security cordons in
the world today, yet hackers were able to get their foot literally right in the
front door, exploiting an overlooked vulnerability in one of the bank’s own
sites, leading to a deluge of malicious code throughout the network of what is
the largest bank in the entire U.S.
The
iron is hot for companies specializing in comprehensive IT solutions to strike
and one of the smaller players in the space today, Infinite Group, Inc.
(OTCM:IMCI), is a play worth evaluating thoroughly, given their solid track
record providing full-spectrum IT services to heavy-hitters like Hewlett
Packard, Pepsi, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Additionally, the company’s VMware®
virtualization implementations have been used by NASA and the USAF, as well as
the Army, Navy, and Marines. Home Depot, which already makes use of such VMware
solutions, perhaps should’ve sent more business IMCI’s way top begin with and
they wouldn’t be dealing with such expensive/unwieldy damage control.
Piecemeal
approaches to the IT landscape can be difficult to maintain and this is where
company’s like IMCI will thrive in coming years, as the security
vulnerabilities at even major corporations becoming increasingly apparent and
more clearly linked to a lack of bringing in true specialists to handle the
entire package. This phenomenon is widespread though, given the natural
progression of IT over the last decade and the relatively piecemeal solutions
employed by even some of the largest corporations. IMCI prides itself on being
able to handle the IT problem in a soup-to-nuts fashion, providing robust
solutions that are appropriate for commercial enterprises of all sizes, as well
as much more stringent government agencies. IMCI is a trusted small-business
GSA (General Services Administration, independent U.S. government agency which
helps manage the basic functions of other agencies) IT service and support
supplier that handles on-site support in places like D.C., as well as at
forward military locations.
With
a tightly-knit team of highly certified IT pros (including ISO 9001, Cisco,
IBM, Linux, Microsoft and many others), IMCI is able to take a given unified
communication services roll out from planning and design, through project
management and the eventual system installations, as well as service/support.
For
more information on Infinite Group, visit: www.IGIus.com
About QualityStocks
QualityStocks
is committed to connecting subscribers with companies that have huge potential
to succeed in the short and long-term future. We offer several ways for
investors to find, evaluate, and learn more about investing in these companies.
Sign
up for “The QualityStocks Daily Newsletter” at www.QualityStocks.net
The
Quality Stocks Daily Blog http://blog.qualitystocks.net
The
Quality Stocks Daily Videos http://videocharts.qualitystocks.net
The
Quality Stocks “Ones to Watch” http://gotstocks.qualitystocks.net
Please
see disclaimer on the QualityStocks website: http://disclaimer.qualitystocks.net
No comments:
Post a Comment