Data breaches are something every business tries to avoid at all costs. When sensitive data has been stolen it changes the course of action for any organization. It entails high costs, loss of reputation and credibility. Today’s hackers know many ways to steal sensitive information and in most cases because people do not know where the security risk is coming from. In this article, we will tell you everything you need to know about data breaches.
What is a data breach?
Data leakage is a process by which an unauthorized user has been able to access confidential information residing in a certain system. No company is immune to data leaks and they often happen because there were detected some weaknesses and gaps in a security system or the actions of company employees. In some cases data leaks can even threaten bankruptcy, so you need to know how this process works, what is the threat, and how to protect yourself from it.
Types of Data Leaks
Below we describe what types of data breaches there are and how they occur:
-Physical breach
Even though the physical breach is not the most common way of data leakage today, you still need to know about it. So, this is the case in which your items containing important corporate information have been stolen. Mostly physical thefts target:
- Gadgets ( laptops, PCs, phones, thumb drives, etc.)
- Hard drives
- Physical assets that may contain sensitive data
– Electronic breach
This is the most popular and sophisticated data breach that involves a deliberate attack on the network where the company or individual user has stored valuable data.
The main reason why data breaches occur is that it is a very lucrative business. All of the data the hacker managed to extract is then sold to your competitors or financial institutions. The main methods cybercriminals use to leak data are:
- the exploitation of system weaknesses – no security system is perfect, hackers are well aware of this and try to find a single crack through which they can execute their plans, they launch spyware and obtain all the necessary information
- brute force attack – usually this method involves breaking a password, but it is very time-consuming. But if your password is not strong enough, cybercriminals will have no problem cracking it
- Malware attacks – using phishing and spam attacks, hackers trick their victims into revealing their accounts and usually use email
What’s the danger of a data breach?
We know that data leaks are bad. But the specific unpleasantness that a company can expect if such a situation happens to it is:
- Loss of revenue – small businesses are particularly painful. Companies lose at least 20% of their revenue to data breaches
- Damage to brand reputation – if your company’s security has been breached, it will make many people question your credibility. That reputation is very hard to wash off
- Loss of intellectual property – Hackers often target your strategies and plans. After losing your intellectual property, you may face competitiveness issues
- Hidden costs – When data breaches occur, your company is believed to have breached security standards, so litigation may intervene, which will also take a lot of expense
How do you protect yourself from data breaches?
No software can give you an exact guarantee against data leaks. But now some tools reduce this risk as much as possible, one of them is virtual data room at virtual-dataroom.it. It provides a military-grade level of security and use many additional security methods to protect your data