• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, December 15, 2023

Email senders who see a falloff in response should examine if their email lists remain valid. They could be suffering the impact of massive retail data breaches that lead to people changing their emails.  

Roughly 280 million email accounts have been compromised in retail breaches worldwide since 2020, according to a new study by Surfshark.  

The United States saw the most breaches in this period, with almost a quarter of the total: 80 million users were compromised, amounting to 237 accounts breached per 1,000 Americans, the study says. 

Russia, also has a significant problem — more than 25 million email accounts have been compromised since 2020, 9% of the global count. They affected 173 accounts for every 1,000 Russians.  

Retail accounts for 8% of all breaches. 

The biggest single retail breach was that of Tokopedia, Indonesia’s largest online store, compromising 70 million user accounts. Overall, breaches affect 75 accounts for every 1,000 Indonesians. 

The second biggest retail breach was that of Luxottica, a global eyewear leader, owner of such brands as Ray-Ban, Oakley, Chanel, Prada, Versace, Dolce and Gabbana, Burberry, Giorgio Armani, Michael Kors, and others. 

The hit, affecting over million accounts, had a particular impact in the U.S.

What to do? Email addresses are worthless when caught in a breach, so brands need adequate security and identity systems that can, above all, protect them from data breaches, spot problems and maintain email address accuracy.