Like most major corporations, we rely on information and operational technology systems, networks and services ("information systems") to support our business processes and activities, including procurement and supply chain, manufacturing, sales, human resources management, distribution and marketing. We also rely on these information systems to collect, process, transmit and store large amounts of electronic data, including, but not limited to, sensitive, confidential or personal information of customers and consumers, to enable the operation and management of our business, including, but not limited to, internal and external communications, to provide services and to manufacture and distribute the products that we sell. These systems, including those fully or partially outsourced to or operated or maintained by third parties, including our suppliers, distributors, contractors, joint venture partners and other external business partners, and by others on which they rely, may be vulnerable to a variety of threats that can compromise the confidentiality, integrity or availability of our data or information systems or information about our company, customers, operations and employees that we may share with vendors that assist with certain aspects of our business. Additionally, e-commerce, including direct sales to customers and consumers, has become increasingly integrated in our operations and contributes significantly to our sales and revenues. For more information regarding our digital commerce activities, please see "Item 4. Information on the Company-B. Business Overview-2. Principal Activities and Products- Digital Transformation and New Businesses." Such digitization initiatives increase the amount of information that we process and maintain and therefore increase our potential exposure to a security incident impacting our information systems.
The risks associated with informational and operational technology incidents have increased in recent years given the increased prevalence of remote work arrangements, the increasing sophistication of cybersecurity attacks, and may be further heightened by geopolitical tensions and conflicts. Unauthorized or accidental access to, or destruction, loss, alteration, disclosure, misuse or unavailability of, information systems, including those of third parties, could result in operational and supply chain disruptions, violations of data privacy laws and regulations, legal claims or proceedings, regulatory penalties, damage to our reputation or our competitive advantage, inability to meet contractual obligations, loss of opportunities to acquire or divest businesses or brands and loss of ability to commercialize products developed through research and development efforts and, therefore, could have a negative impact on net operating revenues. Other potential threats to our data and information systems include, but are not limited to, natural disasters, physical attacks, telecommunications failures, power outages, unintentional or malicious actions of employees or contractors, computer viruses, hackers, phishing attempts, cyber-attacks, malware and ransomware attacks. Further, the sophistication of cybersecurity threat actors continues to evolve and grow, including the risk associated with the use of emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, for nefarious purposes. Resulting technology disruptions can have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.
In addition, our reliance on shared services centers for an increasing number of services important to conducting our business, including accounting, internal control, human resources and IT services, means that any technology disruption could impact a large portion of our business within the operating regions served. Any changes to or transitions of processes to, from or within shared services centers could lead to business disruptions, loss of sensitive or confidential data, and other harms. If we do not allocate and effectively manage the resources necessary to build and sustain the proper technology infrastructure, we could be subject to transaction errors, processing inefficiencies, the loss of, or failure to attract new customers, lost revenues resulting from the disruption or shutdown of computer systems, unexpected failure of devices and software in use by our IT platforms, operations or supply chain disruptions, alteration, corruption or loss of accounting, financial or other data on which we rely for financial reporting and other purposes, which could cause errors or delays in our financial reporting, or the loss of or damage to intellectual property.
We take various actions with the aim of minimizing the likelihood and impact of cybersecurity attacks and other disruptions to our information systems, such as investing in cyber defense solutions, conducting internal and external assessments, building and implementing business continuity plans and reviewing risk management processes. Our third-party partners and enterprise customers of the BEES business, which is operated by our wholly-owned subsidiary, also increasingly demand rigorous contractual provisions regarding privacy, cyber security, data governance, data protection and confidentiality, which may also increase our overall compliance burden. Likewise, we may seek to impose contractual provisions on our third-party partners requiring security measures aimed at mitigating such cybersecurity threats. Regardless of such measures, we may experience financial and reputational damage because of the impact of any such cybersecurity incident, including business disruption, an inability to meet contractual obligations or lost or misappropriated confidential information belonging to us, our current or former employees, our customers or suppliers, or consumers or other data subjects. As a result of any such incident, we may also become exposed to legal action and increased regulatory oversight. We could also be required to spend significant financial and other resources to investigate and remedy the damage caused by a security breach or to repair or replace networks and information systems.
While we continue to invest in prevention, detection, and response systems, no information system can be entirely free of vulnerability to attack, failure, or compromise. During the normal course of business, we have experienced and continue to expect to experience attempted breaches of our information systems and other cybersecurity incidents from time to time. In 2024, as in previous years, we experienced several cybersecurity incidents and other disruptions to our information systems. None of these incidents and systems disruptions, including those reported to us by our third-party partners, had a material impact on our business or operations or resulted in material unauthorized access to our data or our customers' data.