By Marion Hughes-Roger, VP Business Development, Hospitality Evolution Resources

Sitting in the audience at the 2013 PhocusWright Innovation Summit, pitch after pitch is about personalization.  Whether it is technology that changes what users are sold when they access your website or mobile app, or what content is delivered when browsing your site, everyone seems bent on making the user see what they think the user should see based on where the user’s IP address says they are located and what sites the user visited before they arrived on your site.

Besides the obvious issue of whether consumers are conscious of the depth of data collected or mined, the elephant in the room is how safe is the data that is collected.  For example, a consumer who lives in the zip code of 10065 who accesses the web when at home, who books first class round trip for two to Sydney Australia and books a suite at the Four Seasons and has been visiting sites such as Sotheby’s Real Estate may be thrilled to see a an offer for a free Airport transfer in a Rolls Royce. However, that same consumer may not be as thrilled to learn that their purchase patterns and what other sites they also visited are now being stored without their knowledge or permission.

Given that so much information about what consumers are looking at and where they have been before they get to you is available and collected, the evolution of travel marketing toward mass customization seems inevitable.   And inevitably, Hospitality Evolution Resources asks our followers to weigh in on the steps taken to handle the possibility of data breach.

We recently hosted an informative webinar on this very subject with the Venza Group and we encourage you to log on and get two leading data breach specialists insights on what can happen and how to be prepared if (or as they say ‘when’) it does.

Jibran Ilyas, Incident Response Lead at Halock Security Labs, is currently managing high profile data breaches. He also leads the Advanced Malware Threat Assessments for principal clients and devises strategies to combat the modern day threats via innovative Incident Readiness Plans and Incident Response policies.  His take on how breaches happen (according to a new study by Symantec and Poneman Institute, 64 percent of data breaches in 2012 were the result of human mistakes and system problems) is tremendously educational.  HER has partnered with VENZA to create a series of role specific online training modules for the hotel industry on the vulnerability of guest data and as a result, we have been able to learn so much and are realizing how important training is.

Not that anyone is slacking off with efforts to prevent breaches. Frequent security compliance assessments ascertain whether systems and procedures comply with current laws and regulations and generally accepted security standards. In addition, specialist firms like Halock Security Labs offer penetration testing to see if the IT infrastructure can withstand attacks.

However, beyond determining or avoiding vulnerabilities, the monetary impact of a security breach is in the millions. The webinar discussed how to best prepare should (when) one does occur.  It is clear most hoteliers are focused on undertaking steps to reduce the likelihood of cyber-attacks and putting policies and procedures in place to protect data or confidential information, they mostly overlook “insurance policies that cover loss or liability associated with a data breach or other cyber-attack.”

On our webinar we are joined by a specialist in data breach insurance, Christine Marciano, Data Privacy/Cyber Risk Insurance Specialist.  As president of Cyber Data Risk Managers LLC, she shares how vital insurance can be.  Financial consequences are damaging to the bottom line and often more expensive than anticipated. Yet, hoteliers tend to rely almost exclusively on technological solutions to manage this risk and either ignore data breach insurance or are unaware it even exists.

Hoteliers should not assume their current insurance companies will agree that breach coverage is provided by crime and CGL policies. “Owners and management companies concerned about having the right coverage in place for loss arising out of a data breach can purchase insurance marketed expressly for cyber-related loss in the hotel industry,” said Christine.

Take a moment and “attend” the webinar, and read up on the points raised in a recent article HER authored in Hospitality Upgrade Magazine and join the conversation!

About Hospitality Evolution Resources (HER)

Hospitality Evolution Resources (HER) provides an array of services and solutions to the Hospitality industry including developing and delivering training curriculums for a variety of important subjects such as PII Protection and Distribution.  HER also provides project management, strategic thought-leadership, gap analysis, RFP design and vendor vetting.  Lead by award-winning industry veterans with knowledge in diverse areas of the lodging business, HER provides Hospitality-related companies with “solutions that pack results” — effectively bridging the gap between Management, Operations, Technology and Marketing to motivate teams, improve productivity, lower costs, and increase revenue. For additional information, visit the company’s website at www.HER-Consulting.com.