Ted Claypoole Discusses Companies’ Reluctance to Report Cyberattacks with Law.com

ATLANTA—One of the many threats from cyberattacks is the risk to a company’s reputation. No business executive wants to feel the wrath of angry customers and inquisitive journalists when confidential data is hacked. So some cybercrime victims may be underreporting attacks, according to a new Law.com article.

Womble Bond Dickinson privacy and cybersecurity attorney Ted Claypoole was interviewed for the Law.com article. He said underreporting isn’t a new trend—it reflects the reluctance of companies to admit they may have made mistakes in protecting company and customer data.

“Even if the attack is brilliant and no one could have stopped it, those details are lost on the general public and especially regulators, who tend to blame the victim in these cases for not protecting consumer or employee data,” Claypoole tells Law.com.

“In this day, where a company shows competence dealing with a successful attack, the company can minimize reputational damage and come back strong. But it is hard to believe that negative news will not hurt the company in a significant way.”

Click here to read “Reputation, Business Damage Possibilities Keep Many Companies Mum Over Cybercrimes” at Law.com.

Ted Claypoole leads Womble’s Privacy and Cybersecurity Team, IP Transactions Team, and FinTech Team, and he recentl stepped down as chair of the ABA’s Cyberspace Law Committee and stepped onto the ABA Business Law Section Leadership Council. He has managed responses to scores of data exposure incidents in all types of businesses and has served as in-house tech counsel for CompuServe and Bank of America. With former White House CIO Theresa Payton, Ted has published the booksProtecting Your Internet Identity: Are You Naked Online? and Privacy in the Age of Big Data.