We are increasingly dependent on information technology systems and infrastructure to operate our business. In the ordinary course of business, we collect, store, process and transmit significant amounts of sensitive information, including proprietary business information, personal information and other confidential information, including that of our customers, vendors and suppliers. All information systems are subject to disruption, breach or failure. Potential vulnerabilities can be exploited from inadvertent or intentional actions of our employees, third-party vendors and business partners or by malicious third parties. Attacks of this nature are increasing in their frequency, levels of persistence, sophistication and intensity, and are being conducted by a variety of threat actors, including sophisticated and organized groups and individuals with a wide range of expertise and motives, such as organized criminal groups, industrial spies, nation states and others. In addition to the extraction of sensitive information, attacks could include the deployment of harmful malware, ransomware, denial of service attacks or other means, which could affect service reliability and threaten the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information.
We use enterprise-grade information technology and computer resources to carry out important operational activities and to aggregate and maintain business records from a variety of systems. Although most information is stored on servers that are secured in commercial data centers, individual systems, including back-up systems, are subject to damage or interruption from power outages, telecommunications failures, human error, computer viruses, security breaches and cyber incidents, which may infect our network infrastructure. Such systems are also vulnerable to catastrophic events such as fires, tornadoes, earthquakes and hurricanes. Given the unpredictability of the timing, nature and scope of information technology disruptions, if our computer systems and our backup systems are damaged, breached or cease to function properly, we could potentially be subject to production downtimes, operational delays, distraction of management, the compromising of confidential or otherwise protected information, destruction or corruption of data, security breaches, other manipulation or improper use of our systems and networks and financial losses from remedial actions. Significant disruptions in our, or our third-party vendors', information technology systems or other data security breaches or cyber incidents could adversely affect the business operations and result in the loss or misappropriation of, and unauthorized access to, sensitive information, which may force us to incur significant costs and engage in litigation, harm our reputation and subject us to liability under laws, regulations and contractual obligations. In addition, the costs of maintaining adequate protection against such threats are expected to increase and could be material to our operations.