Cybersecurity and data breaches
144 of 521 companies dropped a paragraph in Risk Factors that uses one of these words:
cybersecurity, cyber, ransomware, data breach, cyberattack, hackers.
The paragraph was in the earlier 10-K and nothing like it is in the latest.
It counts text; it does not say how serious a risk is. Words in capitals only (such as AI) must be in capitals.
By sector
Sector is the SEC's industry description of the company. Each count opens that sector's quotes below.
| Sector | Companies | Compared |
|---|---|---|
| Rubber & Plastics Footwear | 2 | 2 |
| Air Courier Services | 1 | 1 |
| Apparel & Other Finishd Prods of Fabrics & Similar Matl | 1 | 1 |
| Electrical Industrial Apparatus | 1 | 1 |
| Electronic Connectors | 1 | 1 |
| Food and Kindred Products | 1 | 1 |
| Gas & Other Services Combined | 1 | 1 |
| Household Appliances | 1 | 1 |
| In Vitro & In Vivo Diagnostic Substances | 1 | 1 |
| Leather & Leather Products | 1 | 1 |
| Meat Packing Plants | 1 | 1 |
| Miscellaneous Food Preparations & Kindred Products | 1 | 1 |
| Newspapers: Publishing or Publishing & Printing | 1 | 1 |
| Ordnance & Accessories, (No Vehicles/Guided Missiles) | 1 | 1 |
| Paper Mills | 1 | 1 |
| Retail-Drug Stores and Proprietary Stores | 1 | 1 |
| Retail-Eating & Drinking Places | 1 | 1 |
| Retail-Home Furniture, Furnishings & Equipment Stores | 1 | 1 |
| Retail-Radio, Tv & Consumer Electronics Stores | 1 | 1 |
| Services-Management Services | 1 | 1 |
| Services-Misc Health & Allied Services, NEC | 1 | 1 |
| Telephone & Telegraph Apparatus | 1 | 1 |
| Television Broadcasting Stations | 1 | 1 |
| Water Supply | 1 | 1 |
| Wholesale-Medical, Dental & Hospital Equipment & Supplies | 1 | 1 |
| Wholesale-Motor Vehicle Supplies & New Parts | 1 | 1 |
| Computer Storage Devices | 4 | 5 |
| Retail-Eating Places | 3 | 4 |
| Finance Services | 19 | 28 |
| Computer Communications Equipment | 2 | 3 |
| Surgical & Medical Instruments & Apparatus | 6 | 10 |
| Beverages | 3 | 5 |
| State Commercial Banks | 3 | 6 |
| Electronic & Other Electrical Equipment (No Computer Equip) | 2 | 4 |
| Search, Detection, Navigation, Guidance, Aeronautical Sys | 2 | 4 |
| Security & Commodity Brokers, Dealers, Exchanges & Services | 2 | 4 |
| Accident & Health Insurance | 1 | 2 |
| Aircraft Engines & Engine Parts | 1 | 2 |
| Cigarettes | 1 | 2 |
| Computer Peripheral Equipment, NEC | 1 | 2 |
| Cutlery, Handtools & General Hardware | 1 | 2 |
| Fats & Oils | 1 | 2 |
| Industrial Organic Chemicals | 1 | 2 |
| Mining & Quarrying of Nonmetallic Minerals (No Fuels) | 1 | 2 |
| Oil & Gas Field Services, NEC | 1 | 2 |
| Refuse Systems | 1 | 2 |
| Retail-Family Clothing Stores | 1 | 2 |
| Retail-Lumber & Other Building Materials Dealers | 1 | 2 |
| Services-Medical Laboratories | 1 | 2 |
| Wholesale-Groceries & Related Products | 1 | 2 |
| National Commercial Banks | 5 | 11 |
| Services-Prepackaged Software | 8 | 19 |
| Biological Products, (No Diagnostic Substances) | 2 | 5 |
| Laboratory Analytical Instruments | 2 | 5 |
| Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. | 2 | 5 |
| Investment Advice | 3 | 8 |
| Air-Cond & Warm Air Heatg Equip & Comm & Indl Refrig Equip | 1 | 3 |
| Computer & office Equipment | 1 | 3 |
| Electrical Work | 1 | 3 |
| Measuring & Controlling Devices, NEC | 1 | 3 |
| Services-Consumer Credit Reporting, Collection Agencies | 1 | 3 |
| Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas | 2 | 7 |
| Electric Services | 4 | 15 |
| Services-Business Services, NEC | 4 | 16 |
| Fire, Marine & Casualty Insurance | 3 | 12 |
| Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation | 1 | 4 |
| Real Estate Investment Trusts | 6 | 27 |
| Semiconductors & Related Devices | 3 | 15 |
| Industrial Instruments For Measurement, Display, and Control | 1 | 5 |
| Orthopedic, Prosthetic & Surgical Appliances & Supplies | 1 | 5 |
| Electric & Other Services Combined | 2 | 12 |
| Petroleum Refining | 1 | 6 |
| Security Brokers, Dealers & Flotation Companies | 1 | 7 |
| Pharmaceutical Preparations | 1 | 11 |
375 paragraphs · Services-Prepackaged Software show all sectors
to material cybersecurity incidents and the reasonably likely impact of such an incident on Form 8-K. Determining whether a cybersecurity incident is notifiable or reportable may not be straightforward and any such mandatory disclosures could be costly and lead to negative publicity, loss of customer confidence in the effectiveness of our security measures, diversion of management’s attention and governmental investigations.
Read in the 10-K filed Jan 13, 2025 ↗
•currency and regulatory risks associated with foreign countries and potential additional cybersecurity and compliance risks resulting from entry into new markets;
Read in the 10-K filed Mar 5, 2025 ↗
•compliance with complex and evolving governmental laws and regulations, including employment, tax, anti-corruption, import/export, customs, anti-boycott, sanctions and embargoes, antitrust, cybersecurity, sustainability and industry-specific laws and regulations, including rules related to compliance by our third-party resellers;
Read in the 10-K filed Mar 5, 2025 ↗
until after some of our customers are affected. Additionally, our Falcon platform may falsely indicate a cyberattack or threat that does not actually exist, which may lessen customers’ trust in our solutions.
Read in the 10-K filed Mar 10, 2025 ↗
We face competition from a broad range of companies, including software vendors focusing on cyber safety solutions such as Bitdefender, Kaspersky, McAfee and Trend Micro, operating system providers such as Apple, Google and Microsoft, and companies such as Nord, Life360, LastPass and others that currently specialize in one or a few particular segments of the market and many of which are expanding their product portfolios into different segments. We also face growing competition from other technology companies, as well as from companies in the identity threat protection space such as credit bureaus. Further, many of our competitors are increasingly developing and incorporating into their products data protection software and other competing cyber safety products, such as antivirus protection or VPN, often free of charge, that compete with our offerings. Our competitive position could be adversely affected by the functionality incorporated into these products rendering our existing solutions obsolete and therefore causing us to fail to meet customer expectations.
Read in the 10-K filed May 15, 2025 ↗
Specifically, in addition to competing with cyber safety vendors directly for sales to end-users of our solutions, we compete with them for the opportunity to have our solutions bundled with the offerings of our strategic partners, such as computer hardware OEMs, internet service providers, operating systems and telecom service providers. Our competitors could gain market share from us if any of these strategic partners replace our solutions with those of our competitors or with their own solutions or promote our competitors’ solutions or their own solutions more frequently or more favorably than our solutions. In addition, software vendors who have bundled our solutions with theirs may choose to bundle their solutions with their own or other vendors’ solutions or may limit our access to standard interfaces and inhibit our ability to develop solutions for their platform. Further product development by these vendors could cause our solutions to become redundant, which could significantly impact our sales and operating results.
Read in the 10-K filed May 15, 2025 ↗
•consolidating and integrating corporate, IT, cybersecurity, finance and administrative infrastructures;
Read in the 10-K filed Dec 19, 2024 ↗
implemented and will continue to implement a variety of measures to enhance further our cybersecurity protections. See “Part II, Item 7 - Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Cybersecurity Incident” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023 for further discussion. Our software supply chain may also be subject to attacks, which may result in future security incidents and breaches.
Read in the 10-K filed May 20, 2025 ↗
We depend upon our IT systems to conduct virtually all of our business operations, ranging from our internal operations and research and development activities to our marketing and sales efforts and communications with our customers and business partners. We have in the past and will in the future be subject to a variety of evolving threats, including but not limited to social-engineering attacks (including through phishing attacks), malicious code (such as viruses and worms), malware (including as a result of advanced persistent threat intrusions), denial-of-service attacks (such as credential stuffing), personnel or service provider misconduct or error, ransomware attacks, supply-chain attacks, software bugs, server malfunctions, software or hardware failures, loss or unavailability of data or other information technology assets, adware, telecommunications failures, earthquakes, fires, floods, natural disasters, and other similar threats.
Read in the 10-K filed Feb 26, 2025 ↗
our service providers face from these and other types of attacks. Because the techniques used to access, disrupt or sabotage devices, systems and networks change frequently and may not be recognized until launched against a target, we expect to be required to make further investments over time to protect data and infrastructure as cybersecurity threats develop, evolve and grow more complex over time. We may also be unable to anticipate these techniques, and we may not become aware in a timely manner of any security breach or incident, which could exacerbate any damage we experience.
Read in the 10-K filed Feb 26, 2025 ↗
We depend upon our employees and contractors to appropriately handle confidential and sensitive data, including customer data, and to deploy our IT resources in a safe and secure manner that does not expose our network systems to security breaches or incidents or the loss, alteration, unavailability, or other unauthorized processing of data. We have been and expect to be subject to cybersecurity threats and incidents, including denial-of-service attacks, employee errors or individual attempts to gain unauthorized access to information systems. We also continue to incorporate AI solutions and features into our platform, which may result in security incidents or otherwise increase cybersecurity risks. Further, AI technologies may be used in connection with certain cybersecurity attacks, resulting in heightened risks of security breaches and incidents. Any security incidents, including internal malfeasance or inadvertent disclosures by our employees or a third-party’s fraudulent inducement of our employees to disclose information, unauthorized access or usage, the introduction of viruses or other malicious code or any other breach or incident or disruption of our platform, systems, or networks or those of our service providers, could result in loss, corruption, unavailability, or other unauthorized processing of confidential information, and any such event, or the perception that it has occurred, may result in damage to our reputation, erosion of customer trust, loss of customers, litigation, regulatory investigations, fines, penalties and other liabilities. For example, in June and August 2022, we became aware that threat actors had conducted sophisticated social engineering campaigns against some of our employees after having obtained employee names and mobile phone numbers from unknown sources. The attack identified in August 2022, which involved smishing text messages that purported to be from our IT department, resulted in the threat actor obtaining some of our employees’ credentials and access to certain data of approximately 209 customers out of our total customer base of approximately 270,000 at that time. We notified and worked with our affected customers. We also notified appropriate regulators and addressed their questions about the incident. We also took steps to remediate the incident, including enhancing our security training, improving our two factor authentication requirements, implementing additional layers of control within our VPN, reducing access to certain internal applications and tools, running simulated phishing attempts to increase employee security awareness, and increasing the refresh frequency for access to certain internal applications. Industry reports indicate that the threat actors also attacked other technology, telecommunication and cryptocurrency companies.
Read in the 10-K filed Feb 26, 2025 ↗
Furthermore, we are required to comply with laws and regulations that require us to maintain security measures designed to protect personal information and we may have contractual and other legal obligations to notify customers, regulators, government agencies, impacted individuals or other relevant stakeholders of security breaches. Such disclosures are costly, and the disclosures or the failure to comply with such requirements could lead to adverse consequences. If we (or a third party upon whom we rely) experience a security incident or are perceived to have experienced a security incident, we may experience adverse consequences. Consequences associated with such security incidents may include: government enforcement actions and other actions or proceedings (for example, investigations, audits, and inspections), and related fines, penalties, required remedial actions, or other obligations and liabilities; additional reporting requirements and/or oversight; restrictions on processing or transferring data (including personal data); claims, demands, and litigation (including class claims); indemnification obligations; monetary fund diversions; interruptions in our operations (including availability of data); financial loss and other similar harms. Actual and perceived security incidents and attendant consequences could also lead to negative publicity and reputational harm, may cause our customers to lose confidence in the effectiveness of our security measures and require us to expend significant capital and other resources to respond to and/or mitigate the security incident. Accordingly, if our cybersecurity measures or those of our third-party service providers fail to protect against unauthorized access, attacks (which may include sophisticated cyberattacks), or if our employees or contractors compromise or mishandle data, then our reputation, customer trust, business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.
Read in the 10-K filed Feb 26, 2025 ↗
While we maintain errors, omissions and cyber liability insurance policies covering certain security and privacy damages, we cannot be certain that our existing insurance coverage will continue to be available on acceptable terms or will be
Read in the 10-K filed Feb 26, 2025 ↗
We and our customers are subject to numerous domestic (for example, the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”)) and foreign (for example, the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) in the European Union (“EU”)) privacy, data protection and cybersecurity laws and regulations that restrict the collection, use, disclosure and processing of personal information, including financial and health data. These laws and regulations are expanding globally, evolving, and being tested in courts, may result in increasing regulatory and public scrutiny of our practices relating to personal information and may increase our exposure to regulatory enforcement action, sanctions and litigation. The breadth and depth of changes in data protection obligations has required significant time and resources, including a review of our technology and systems against the requirements of the GDPR.
Read in the 10-K filed Feb 26, 2025 ↗
The CCPA (as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020) imposes obligations on businesses to which it applies. These obligations include, but are not limited to, providing specific disclosures in privacy notices and affording California residents (both consumers and employees) certain rights related to their personal information. The CCPA allows for statutory fines for noncompliance. Similar laws have been enacted in 18 other states with 13 laws currently in effect and the remainder becoming effective later in 2025 and 2026. Numerous other states, and the U.S. federal government, also have proposed general privacy legislation recently. Additionally, other states have proposed, and in certain cases enacted, other laws and regulations addressing privacy and cybersecurity, such as Washington’s My Health, My Data Act, which includes a private right of action. If we become subject to new privacy, data protection or cybersecurity laws, the risk of enforcement action against us could increase because we may become subject to additional obligations, and the number of individuals or entities that can initiate actions against us may increase, including individuals, via a private right of action, and state actors.
Read in the 10-K filed Feb 26, 2025 ↗
Outside the United States, an increasing number of laws, regulations, and industry standards apply to privacy, data protection and cybersecurity. For example, the GDPR, the United Kingdom’s General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018 (“UK GDPR”) and the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection, impose strict requirements for processing the personal information of individuals protected by the legislation, whether their data is processed within or outside the European Economic Area (“EEA”), the United Kingdom (“UK”) and Switzerland, respectively (such jurisdictions, collectively, “Europe”). For example, the GDPR imposes significant requirements regarding the processing of individuals’ personal information, including in relation to transparency, lawfulness of processing, individuals’ privacy rights, compliant contracting, data minimization, data breach notification, data re-usage, data retention, security of processing and international data transfers. Under the GDPR and UK GDPR, government regulators may impose temporary or definitive bans on data processing or data transfers, require a company to delete data, as well as impose significant fines, potentially ranging up to 20 million Euros under the GDPR, 17.5 million GBP under the UK GDPR, or 4% of a company’s worldwide revenue, whichever is higher. Further, individuals may initiate compensation claims or litigation related to our processing of their personal information. Other privacy and data protection laws in Europe impose strict requirements around marketing communications and the deployment of cookies on users’ devices. As another example, Brazil’s General Data Protection Law (Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais, or “LGPD”) (Law No. 13,709/2018) may apply to our operations. The LGPD broadly regulates processing of personal information of individuals in Brazil and imposes compliance obligations and penalties comparable to those of the GDPR. Additionally, we expect an increase in the regulation of the use of AI and ML in products and services. For example, in Europe, the Artificial Intelligence Act (“AI Act”), once effective, will impose onerous obligations related to the development, placing on the market and use of AI-related systems. In the United States, numerous states have established study commissions that could lead to regulation of AI, and certain states have enacted legislation regulating aspects of AI. Other countries also are contemplating laws regulating AI and ML. We may have to change our business practices to comply with obligations under these or other new and evolving regimes.
Read in the 10-K filed Feb 26, 2025 ↗
Evolving laws, regulations, and other actual and asserted obligations relating to privacy, data protection, and cybersecurity, as well as any new or evolving obligations relating to the use of AI and ML technologies, could reduce demand for our platform, increase our costs, impair our ability to grow our business, or restrict our ability to store and process data or, in some cases, impact our ability to offer our service in some locations and may subject us to liability. Further, in view of new or modified federal, state or foreign laws and regulations, industry standards, contractual obligations and other actual and asserted obligations, or any changes in their interpretation, we may find it necessary or desirable to fundamentally change our business activities and practices or to expend significant resources to modify our practices and platform and otherwise adapt to these changes. We may be unable to make such changes and modifications in a commercially reasonable manner or at all, and our ability to develop new products and features could be limited.
Read in the 10-K filed Feb 26, 2025 ↗
Similarly, in May 2021, the Biden administration issued an Executive Order requiring federal agencies to implement additional information technology security measures, including, among other things, requiring agencies to adopt multifactor authentication and encryption for data at rest and in transit to the maximum extent consistent with federal records laws and other applicable laws. Due to this Executive Order, federal agencies may require us to modify our cybersecurity practices and policies, thereby increasing our compliance costs. If we are unable to meet the requirements of the Executive Order, our ability to work with the U.S. government, whether directly or indirectly, may be impaired and may result in a loss of revenue.
Read in the 10-K filed Feb 26, 2025 ↗
Other countries have imposed or may in the future impose data localization obligations, cross-border data transfer restrictions, and other country specific privacy and security requirements which could be problematic to cloud software and data providers. For example, in 2021, China adopted the Personal Information Protection Law, which, together with the Cybersecurity Law and the Data Security Law, require companies that process personal data of China residents above certain thresholds to seek approval from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) to transfer such data outside of China. In 2023, certain of our Veeva CRM customers in China were required to request such approval from the CAC and had their requests denied. Customers required to request approval may need to implement a CRM solution that does not require data to be transferred outside of China and customers not subject to the requirement may nonetheless choose to do so. While we offer the China CRM Suite, a CRM solution that does not require data to be transferred outside of China, some customers have chosen, and other customers may choose, other CRM providers, which may negatively impact our CRM business in China. Currently, approximately 2% of our total revenue is attributable to China. Additionally, as we expand our data product offerings into new jurisdictions, we are required to assess, monitor, and comply with additional laws and regulations related to our collection and processing of data, which may include new registration, consent, and notification obligations.
Read in the 10-K filed Mar 24, 2025 ↗