What is a Data Breach?

Data breach; is to disclose confidential, sensitive or protected information to an unauthorized person. Files in a data breach can be viewed and/or shared without permission.

Everyone from ordinary users to high-level organizations and governments can be at risk of data breaches. 

In general, data breaches are caused by the following weaknesses:

• Technology factor
• User factor

As our computers and mobile devices gain more features, more places are needed to save data. New technologies evolve faster than we can protect them.

We value the ease of use and security of devices in the IoT industry more than their security. Many “smart home” products have vulnerabilities such as a lack of encryption, and hackers take advantage of it. As new digital products, services, and tools are used with minimal security testing, we will continue to see this problem grow. However, even if back-end technology is perfectly installed, some users may be the weak spot of these technologies. One person may be enough to compromise a website or network.

Without a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy at both the user and enterprise level, you are guaranteed to be almost at risk.

How Do Data Breaches Happen?

We value the ease of use and security of devices in the IoT industry more than their security. Many “smart home” products have vulnerabilities such as a lack of encryption, and hackers take advantage of it. As new digital products, services, and tools are used with minimal security testing, we will continue to see this problem grow. However, even if back-end technology is perfectly installed, some users may be the weak spot of these technologies. One person may be enough to compromise a website or network.

The reasons for how data breaches happen can sometimes be deliberate attacks. However, it can be caused by a user's abuse of technology or by flaws in a company's infrastructure.

Here's how a data breach can occur:

• An example might be an employee using a colleague's computer and reading files without proper authorization permissions. Access is unintentional and no information is shared. However, since it is viewed by an unauthorized person, it is deemed to have violated that data.
• A person knowingly accesses and/or shares data with the intent to harm another person or company. The malicious person may have legitimate authority to use the company's data, but is using the information for malicious purposes.
• Lost or stolen devices, an unencrypted and unlocked laptop or external hard drive (anything containing sensitive information) are lost.
• Malicious external criminals are hackers who use various attack vectors to gather information from a network or an individual.

Methods Used to Violate Data

Since data breaches are caused by cyberattacks, we need to know what to look out for.

Some popular methods used by hackers;

• Phishing
• Brute Force Attacks
• Malware

Phishing causes a data breach by deceiving the user. Phishing attackers act as people or organizations they trust to deceive users. Criminals of this nature try to persuade them to access sensitive data or to provide the datato the user himself.

Brute Force attacks, hackers use software tools to guess passwords, they try all possibilities for passwords until they guess correctly. These attacks take some time, but as computer speeds continue to increase, the predicting time accelerates. If the password is weak, it may take only a few seconds to crack.

Malware, may contain vulnerabilities in the machine operating system, software, hardware, or the networks and servers to which it is connected. They are software used to disrupt the functions of computers and mobile devices, collect critical information, gain access to private computer systems and display unwanted advertisements.

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What Are the Harms That Data Breaches Cancause?

Data breaches can’t just be fixed by some password changes, a data leak can have lasting effects, such as the reputation and finances of the organization.

For commercial organizations, a data breach can have a devastating impact on an organization’s reputation and financial bottom line. Organizations like Equifax, Target and Yahoo, for example, have been exposed to a data breach, and today many people are avoiding real business operations by remembering these companies for the data breach.

For government agencies, compromised data can mean disclosure of highly classified information to foreign parties. Details of military operations, political relations and basic national infrastructure can pose a major threat to a government and its citizens.

For individuals, identity theft is a major threat to victims of data breaches. Data leaks can reveal everything from id numbers to banking information. When a criminal has this information, he or she can engage in all kinds of fraud on behalf of the victim. The victim may face legal challenges.

How to Prevent DataBreach?

Data breach prevention should cover everyone from end users to IT staff.

When trying to plan how to prevent data breach attacks or leaks, security is only as strong as the weakest link. Any person interacting with a system could potentially be vulnerable. Even young children withtablets on your home network can pose a risk.

Several methods to prevent a data breach;

• The operating system, application and any technology used need to be patched and updated.
• Sensitive data requires a high-grade encryption configuration.
• When the software is no longer supported by the manufacturer, it must upgrade the devices.
• Business-level cybersecurity additions of all devices (EDR, SIEM, XDR, etc.) security policies are required.
• It must require strong credentials and multi-factor authentication. Encouraging users to use a password manager can help.
• Employees need to betrained in best security practices and ways to avoid socially engineered attacks.