Security Breach

It was at the time the biggest data security breach in history, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The victim was Heartland Payment Systems, one of the nation’s largest processors of credit and debit card payments. The company’s response stands as an enduring leadership model for all victims of a crime that’s only become increasingly frequent and larger in scope. Heartland contacted all 155,000 of its customers in the first four days. It accelerated the development of encryption technology as a concrete remedy for future incidents. It shared critical security technology information with competitors in order to provide industry-wide solutions. Because it so unequivocally confirmed its leadership role, industry analysts and the media have been unstinted in their public praise of how the breach was handled, while share price has nearly tripled from its low point during the crisis.