Why Epsilon should apologize for email breach

Clients of the email server have said they’re sorry for the hack, so why hasn’t the company responsible? (Lawyers are probably to blame.)

They all apologized that their email company, Epsilon, had its servers hacked and some customers’ email addresses stolen.

Some, like Chase, offered me suggestions on protecting myself from potentially harmful emails, such as using a “user name” different from your email address and never revealing sensitive information if responding to an email.

I was impressed. I got the feeling they cared. People appreciate apologies and understand that in this tech age, “Stuff happens.”

So, I decided to see what Epsilon, the source of the problem, was saying. I assumed it would be the most upset of all.

I was sadly disappointed. Either the company doesn’t care, or it has lawyers—not communicators—making its decisions.

The rather terse press release on it website reads:

IRVING, TEXAS – April 1, 2011 – On March 30th, an incident was detected where a subset* of Epsilon clients’ customer data were exposed by an unauthorized entry into Epsilon’s email system. The information that was obtained was limited to email addresses and/or customer names only. A rigorous assessment determined that no other personal identifiable information associated with those names was at risk. A full investigation is currently underway.

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