California, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, Texas and other coastal areas, have experienced recent natural disasters and have increased risks of adverse weather or natural disasters. The physical effects of climate change may increase the frequency or severity of natural disasters and other extreme weather events in the future, which could increase our exposure to these risks.
Risks Related to Information Technology
If we encounter interruptions in the proper functioning of our information technology systems, including from cybersecurity threats, we could experience material problems with our operations, including inventory, collections, customer service, cost control, and business plan execution that could have a material adverse effect on our financial results, including unanticipated increases in costs or decreases in net sales.
Our information technology systems (“IT systems” or “systems”), which include information technology networks, hardware, applications, and the data related thereto, are integral to the operation of our business. We use our IT systems to, among other things, provide complete integration of purchasing, receiving, order processing, shipping, inventory management, delivery routing, sales analysis, cash management, and accounting, as well as to process, transmit, protect, store, and delete sensitive and confidential electronic data, including, but not limited to, employee, supplier, and customer data (“Data”). Our IT systems include third-party applications and proprietary applications developed and maintained by us. We rely heavily on information technology both in serving our customers and in our enterprise infrastructure to achieve our objectives. In certain instances, we also rely on the systems of third parties to assist with conducting our business, which includes, among other things, marketing and distributing products, developing new products and services, operating our website, hosting and managing our services, securely storing Data, processing transactions, purchasing and receiving, billing and accounts receivable management, responding to customer inquiries, managing inventory and our supply chain, and managing our human resources processes and services. As a result, the secure and reliable operation of our systems (including its function of securing Data), and those of third parties upon whom we depend, are critical to the successful operation of our business. Any failure or interruption of our IT systems, including the systems of third parties upon whom we depend, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial results, and reputation.
Although our IT systems and Data are protected through security measures and business continuity plans, our systems and those of third parties upon whom we depend may be vulnerable to: natural disasters; power outages; telecommunication or utility failures; terrorist acts; breaches due to employee error or malfeasance or other insider threats; disruptions during the process of upgrading or replacing computer software or hardware; terminations of business relationships by us or third-party service providers; and disinformation campaigns, damage or intrusion from a variety of deliberate cyber-attacks carried out by insiders or third parties, which are becoming more sophisticated and include computer viruses, worms, gaining unauthorized access to systems for purposes of misappropriating assets or sensitive information either directly or through our vendors and customers, denial of service attacks, ransomware, supply chain attacks, data corruption, malicious distribution of inaccurate information or other malicious software programs that may impact such systems and cause operational disruption. For these IT systems and related business processes to operate effectively, we or our service providers must continually maintain and update them. Delays in the maintenance, updates, upgrading, or patching of these systems and related business processes could impair their effectiveness or expose us to security risks. In addition, if IT systems are damaged, restoration or recovery of those systems may not be achievable in a timely manner. Even with our policies, procedures, and programs designed to ensure the integrity of our IT systems and the security of Data, we may not be effective in identifying and mitigating every risk to which we are exposed. In some instances, we may have no current capability to detect certain vulnerabilities, which may allow them to persist in the environment over long periods of time.
Additionally, existing and future artificial intelligence (“AI”) capabilities present a growing threat by aiding experienced and inexperienced threat actors in identifying vulnerabilities and crafting increasingly sophisticated and targeted cybersecurity attacks. Vulnerabilities may also be introduced from the use of AI by us, our customers or suppliers. Use of AI by us or such third parties, whether authorized or unauthorized, increases the risk that our proprietary information or intellectual property will be unintentionally disclosed, and may introduce new risks such as inaccurate output.
Despite the precautions we take to mitigate the risks of such events, any attack on our IT systems or breach of our Data, or the IT systems and Data of third parties upon whom we depend, could result in, but are not limited to, the following: business disruption, misstated or misappropriated financial data, product shortages