<p>Amid rising data breaches, privacy protection has become a strategic priority for firms, yet many lack empirical guidance on how to improve it. Specifically, marketers’ role in breach prevention has been overlooked. As stewards of customer and brand equity, chief marketing officers (CMOs) may be especially important in breach prevention. Drawing on the attention-based view of the firm and integrating the strategic leadership and organizational learning literature, we examine whether, when, and how CMOs contribute to breach prevention. Analyses of primary and secondary data reveal that CMOs reduce breach risk partially through customer orientation and are associated with a 33-percentage-point reduction in breach probability. Furthermore, the board’s learning from the breach prevalence at interlocked firms and a firm’s marketing intensity enhance the CMO’s effectiveness, while the presence of a committee for technology oversight and CEO overconfidence diminish it. These findings underscore the strategic but underappreciated role of CMOs in privacy protection.</p>