Critical Review: Operations Security and the Zomato Data Breach

This report analyzes the Zomato data breach that resulted in 17 million user records being stolen. The breach, executed by a hacker named “nclay,” exposed user data including emails, passwords, and personal information, raising concerns about online transaction security. Zomato's management initially downplayed the severity, attributing the breach to human error and promising improved security measures. However, the incident eroded customer trust and highlighted the vulnerabilities of online data storage. The report emphasizes the need for robust security protocols, encrypted data storage, and trustworthy personnel to protect user data and maintain customer confidence in application-based companies. The report references articles that discuss consumer attitudes toward data breach notifications, operational and technological threats, and estimating the contextual risk of data breaches.

Running head: OPERATIONS SECURITY
Operations security
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note:

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Title of the article- ZOMATO HACKED: Security Breach Results in 17 Million User Data
Stolen
Topic- Operations Security
Author- Anu Thomas
Publisher- Economic Times
Date of Publication- May 19, 2017
Link to Article- https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/security-tech/security/zomato-
hacked-security-breach-results-in-17-million-user-data-stolen/articleshow/58729251.cms
Main Idea of Article
Vulnerability of Online Data with the Example of Zomato
Information presented
1. Data breach in Zomato
2. Name of the User
3. Sources of Data Breach
4. Leak of personalized Information
5. Human Error or planned conspiracy

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Response to the Journal
The following article provides the basis about the data breach that occurred in popular
website application Zomato. It suffered a security breach with over 17 million user records
literally stolen online from the database of the following company (Thomas, 2018). The
information was stolen by or hacked by a user named “nclay” who claimed to have hacked
Zomato. The following information was provided by hackread.com. The user insisted on selling
the hacked data to a Dark Web where the user name and passwords of the users of the stolen data
were vulnerable to different kind of fraudulent activities. E mails, passwords, hashes, different
kinds of personal mails, Instagram and other kind of activities that were done by the users. All
the activities along with the name, bank account details and other kind of private documents
were made available to the hackers. The most important information was the denial of the
management of Zomato about the hacking of the credit card information and access to financial
information. The management claimed that they have carried out a thorough security check and
an investigation. However the company insisted users to change their passwords to ensure further
safety. In their BlogSpot the company claimed that human error was the main reason for the
security breach of the company and the different types of security gaps were promised to be kept
tight from the future. However the damage being already done it would take a lot of time for the
company to gain or rather recover the trust of the customers.
Most of the people who have commented on the following article has one thing in
common, “the fear of transacting online”. There are some who have even raised eyebrows and
expressed their fear on the use of digital technologies for different kinds of National Identities or
in the printing of the Identification Cards. Thus going by the comments on the following article it
can be said that the management of the organization must ensure the security of the data. The

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data of the users must be stored in the system in such a way that it does not get breached easily.
There must be a security code that will be unlock able without some encrypted secret code. The
company must also employ trusted members to ensure loyalty.
Conclusion
The following article has highlighted the fact about the risk and the vulnerabilities of the
users of the different mobile and internet applications. The management of the different
application based companies must take adequate steps like different technological measures to
ensure the safety and security of the personalized data of the users.

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Bibliography
Ablon, L., Heaton, P., Lavery, D. C., & Romanosky, S. (2016). Consumer attitudes toward data
breach notifications and loss of personal information. Rand
Corporation.
Pownall, C. (2015). Operational and Technological Threats. In Managing Online Reputation (pp.
70-83). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Sen, R., & Borle, S. (2015). Estimating the contextual risk of data breach: An empirical
approach. Journal of Management Information Systems, 32(2),
314-341.
Thomas, A. (2018). Zomato hacked: Security breach results in 17 million user data stolen.
[online] The Economic Times. Available at:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/security-tech/sec
urity/zomato-hacked-security-breach-results-in-17-million-user-
data-stolen/articleshow/58729251.cms [Accessed 28 Jun. 2018].