{"id":15903,"date":"2023-11-30T05:39:48","date_gmt":"2023-11-30T05:39:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businessyield.com\/tech\/?p=15903"},"modified":"2023-12-01T13:03:11","modified_gmt":"2023-12-01T13:03:11","slug":"data-breach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businessyield.com\/tech\/technology\/data-breach\/","title":{"rendered":"DATA BREACH: What Does it Mean & How Do You Prevent It?","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Data breaches can be far more than merely a cause of discomfort; they can alter the trajectory of your life. When sensitive information is revealed, it can cause major problems for businesses, governments, and individuals alike. Hackers can access you whether you are offline or online by using the internet, Bluetooth, text messaging, or the online services you use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A minor flaw can lead to a large data breach if not addressed properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And because many people are ignorant of how common modern security risks operate, they do not pay enough attention to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So in theis article we’ll go over data breaches, how they can affect you and how to prevent them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A “data breach” occurs when information is removed or stolen from a system without the owner’s knowledge or consent. A data breach can happen to a big or small business. Private, proprietary, or sensitive information\u2014such as credit card numbers, customer information, trade secrets, or information related to national security\u2014may be included in stolen data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The following are typical reasons why information breaches from companies occur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Disgruntled workers, former workers who still have access credentials to private networks and business partners are examples of insider risks. Retaliation, money, or information with a high commercial value may be their motivators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Typical situations include credit card breaches leading to fraud, phoney refunds, and triangulation frauds. When thieves create fake internet storefronts at low prices and use the credit card information they steal to purchase at actual establishments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Organizations keep sensitive data on various gadgets, including desktop computers, servers, thumb drives, laptops, and portable hard drives. Any of these devices could be inadvertently misplaced by organisation personnel or physically taken by an attacker, leading to a breach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many data breaches result from the inadvertent disclosure of private information rather than from an attack. IT workers may inadvertently expose a critical internal server to the Internet, or employees may access sensitive data and save it to an insecure location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Attackers frequently target high-value data, such as personally identifiable information (PII) or business data, which they can either sell for a profit or exploit to harm the target or organization. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once they obtain the data, the consequences might be quite harmful. Organizations that experience a data breach may lose confidential company information or sensitive financial data, but they may also incur penalties, irreversible financial losses, and reputational harm. A government agency breach could expose sensitive and confidential data about military activities, the country’s infrastructure, and political dealings to foreign agencies. This could represent a threat to the government and its people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
People who experience a breach may lose their personal information, including Social Security numbers, bank account information, and medical records. Equipped with this data, a cybercriminal may pilfer the person’s identity, obtain entry to their social media accounts, wreak havoc on their credit score, make purchases on their credit cards, and even fabricate new personas for potential future assaults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The companies affected by the most significant data breaches experienced long-term consequences. Examples of these data breaches are as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The massive internet company Yahoo disclosed two data breaches in 2013 and 2014 in 2016. The attacks, which allegedly involved state-sponsored hackers who stole personal information like names, email addresses, and unencrypted security questions and answers, may have affected up to 1.5 billion Yahoo accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Between May and June 2017, a data breach at the financial services company Equifax affected over 153 million people in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In addition to almost 200,000 credit card numbers, it revealed the personal information of over 200,000 clients, including names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and driver’s license numbers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following discovering a problem that revealed user passwords, Twitter asked its 330 million users to update and replace them in 2018. This resulted from an issue with Twitter’s hashing algorithm, which encrypts user passwords. Although the social networking site stated that it had discovered and resolved the problem, this is a prime illustration of a potential vulnerability exploit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In May 2020, Twitter may have experienced a security breach that impacted companies utilizing its analytics and advertising services. Twitter said that it was “possible” that some users’ phone numbers, email addresses, and the last four digits of their credit card information may have been accessible due to a caching problem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An attack on the insurance company First American Financial in May 2019 exposed over 885 million private documents. The attack led to the digitization and public availability of files that included Social Security numbers, photographs of driver’s licenses, bank account numbers and statements, mortgage details, tax records, and wire transfer receipts in 2003. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A server holding phone numbers connected to the account IDs of over 419 million Facebook users was made public in September 2019. Since the server was not password-protected, anybody could locate, log in to, and search the database. Three months later, hackers discovered a database that held the names, phone numbers, and user IDs of almost 300 million Facebook members. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You recently discovered a data breach at your company. If someone may have revealed your personal information, what should you do, and who should you contact? The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) offers the following advice, which can assist you in making wise selections, even though the responses differ depending on the circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Act swiftly to protect your systems and address any weaknesses that might have led to the hack. Multiple data breaches are the only thing worse than one data breach. Take action to prevent a recurrence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If necessary, lock them and modify the access codes. Ask your law enforcement and forensics specialists when it’s OK to start regular operations again. Immediately assemble your breach response team to stop further data loss. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
These could include forensics, legal, information security, technology, operations, human resources, communications, investor relations, and management, depending on the size and type of your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To assist you in identifying the origin and extent of the breach, think about working with independent forensic investigators. They will take forensic pictures of the compromised systems, gather and examine proof, and provide a remediation plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consult your legal representative. After that, consider working with independent legal counsel specialising in data security and privacy. They can provide details on local, state, and federal laws that a breach might violate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Take offline all impacted equipment as soon as possible, but don’t switch off any devices until the forensic specialists come. Keep a close eye on all entry and departure points, particularly where the breach occurred. Replace impacted machines online with clean ones. Update the passwords and login information for authorised users as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Malicious actors can execute data breaches through various attack routes or techniques. Among the most typical are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
19% of data breaches are caused by stolen or compromised credentials, according to Cost of a Data Breach 2022. This makes them the most frequent first attack vector. Hackers can use brute force assaults, purchase stolen credentials on the dark web, or use social engineering techniques to fool employees into disclosing credentials to steal or compromise credentials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n