Irvine,Calif.

When a retailer suffers a data security breach, the results are far-reaching and include financial repercussion, loss of customer trust and damage to the brand. News accounts of high-profile retailers hit by credit account thefts have shown that marketers are vulnerable to such attacks and need to take strong measures to guard against them. Tim Odell, executive director of technology at SmartReply, a voice and mobile messaging solutions firm, says some retailers have been lax about data security and don’t realize the damage that follows when a breach occurs. One way to combat breaches is to hire hackers to attempt to penetrate your systems at