Data breaches can be far more than a temporary terror — they may change the course of your life. Businesses, governments, and individuals alike can experience huge complications from having sensitive information exposed. Whether you are offline or online, hackers can get to you through the internet, Bluetooth, text messages, or the online services that you use.
Without proper attention to detail, a small vulnerability can cause a massive data breach. Since many people are unaware of how common modern security threats work, they don’t give it enough attention.
As we dive in, you’ll get answers to some frequently asked questions:
Before going further, we’ll start with a quick data breach definition.
To define data breach: a data breach exposes confidential, sensitive, or protected information to an unauthorized person. The files in a data breach are viewed and/or shared without permission.
Anyone can be at risk of a data breach — from individuals to high-level enterprises and governments. More importantly, anyone can put others at risk if they are not protected. In general, data breaches happen due to weaknesses in:
As our computers and mobile devices get more connective features, there are more places for data to slip through. New technologies are being created faster than we can protect them. Devices in the IoT sector are proof that we are increasingly valuing convenience over security. Many “smart home” products have gaping flaws, like lack of encryption, and hackers are taking advantage. Since new digital products, services, and tools are being used with minimal security testing, we’ll continue to see this problem grow.
However, even if the backend technology was set up perfectly, some users will likely still have poor digital habits. All it takes is one person to compromise a website or network. Without comprehensive security at both the user and enterprise levels, you are almost guaranteed to be at risk. Protecting yourself and others starts with understanding how a data breach occurs.
How do Data Breaches happen?
The assumption is that a data breach is caused by an outside hacker, but that’s not always true. Reasons for how data breaches happen might sometimes be traced back to intentional attacks. However, it can just as easily result from a simple oversight by individuals or flaws in a company’s infrastructure.
Here’s how a data breach can occur:
Since malicious data breaches result from cyberattacks, you should know what to watch for. Here are some popular methods used by hackers
Although a data breach can be the result of an innocent mistake, real damage is possible if the person with unauthorized access steals and sells Personally Identifiable Information (PII) or corporate intellectual data for financial gain or to cause harm. Malicious criminals tend to follow a basic pattern: targeting an organization for a breach takes planning. They research their victims to learn where the vulnerabilities are, such as missing or failed updates and employee susceptibility to phishing campaigns. Hackers learn a target’s weak points, then develop a campaign to get insiders to mistakenly download malware. Sometimes they go after the network directly.
Once inside, malicious criminals have the freedom to search for the data they want — and lots of time to do it, as the average breach takes more than five months to detect. Common vulnerabilities targeted by malicious criminals include the following:
In many cases, data breaches cannot just be patched up with some password changes. The effects of a data leak can be a lasting issue for your reputation, finances, and more.
While these are common cases, the harm done by data breaches can extend far beyond these situations. So, it is essential that you investigate whether your data has already been exposed. To find out if your personal or work accounts have been compromised use https://haveibeenpwned.com/ to check (this tool checks existing data breaches for your email address and reports what was leaked).
You might want more comprehensive monitoring to know in real-time if your data has leaked. Products like Kaspersky Security Cloud offer data leak detection and help you navigate the situation.
Of course, the best way to protect yourself is to avoid being a victim in the first place. No security plan is perfect, but there are ways you can defend yourself — whether you’re an individual or an enterprise.
Data breach prevention needs to include everyone at all levels — from end-users to IT personnel, and all people in between. When you’re trying to plan how to prevent data breach attacks or leaks, security is only as strong as the weakest link. Every person that interacts with a system can be a potential vulnerability. Even small children with a tablet on your home network can be a risk.
Here are a few best practices to avoid a data breach:
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