How to prevent data breaches

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40% of data breaches involved data stored across multiple environments. Breached data stored in public clouds incurred the highest average breach cost at USD 5.17 million according to the IBM report. For many organizations data is lifeblood and losing it makes inevitable impact on organization productivity and wellbeing. Corporate information has always been a target for bad actors looking for chances to launch ransomware attacks or steal information.

To prevent data breaches organizations need to take certain measures and follow strict data protection rules. In this blog post we will discuss the main reasons for data breaches and will provide recommendations for reducing cyber attacks and protecting sensitive data.

What are the main types of data security breaches?

A security breach involves the unauthorized access, exposure, or alteration of confidential information within a system, network, or organization. It happens when attackers exploit security flaws or weaknesses to gain access to sensitive data, which can result in harm or misuse. Security breaches can occur in various ways, such as phishing attacks, malware infections, insider threats, or exploitation of software vulnerabilities.

Here are the most common data security breach types which stand out from the crowd:

  1. Stolen Information

    2. How it works: There are many ways to steal information. It can be either stolen physically from the office, from cloud or corporate server. It normally happens due to human errors when third parties get access to documents storage or business conversations in a corporate messenger.

    Impact on business: Stolen information may give competitors access to important documents, designs, personal information of employees and customers. The impact can be disastrous and lead to brand reputation damage and financial losses.

  2. Ransomware and malware attacks

    3. How it works: Malicious software, such as viruses, worms or ransomware infiltrates systems, allowing attackers to steal data, encrypt files for ransom or disrupt operations.

    Impact on business: Such ransomware and malware attacks lead to data corruption, data theft, financial losses and disrupt operations.

  3. Password guessing and recording keystrokes

    4. How it works: Password guessing and keystroke logging are brute-force techniques used to steal login credentials and get access to corporate sensitive information. Guessing involves using common passwords or dictionary attacks, while keyloggers record your keystrokes, potentially exposing passwords and other sensitive data.

    Impact on business: Stolen credentials can provide access to personal and sensitive information, resulting in identity theft, financial losses, and harm to one's reputation.

  4. Phishing

    5. How it works: Deceptive emails, text messages, or websites lure users into disclosing personal information, such as login credentials, or trick them into clicking malicious links that install malware.

    Impact on business: Phishing leads to stolen credentials and unauthorized access to sensitive information. As a result, this causes financial losses, data breaches and identity thefts.

  5. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)

    6. How it works: Attackers flood a website or server with excessive traffic, making it inaccessible to users.

    Impact on business: Such DDoS attacks harm reputation, make service inaccessible and cause financial losses.

  6. Insider security breaches

    7. How it works: The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) defines an insider threat as the risk that an individual with authorized access might, either intentionally or unintentionally, cause harm to resources, personnel, facilities, information, equipment, networks, or systems.

    Impact on business: An insider security breach can lead to financial losses, damage to reputation, compromised sensitive information, and the need for organizational restructuring.

How to prevent data security breaches?

There is no foolproof method to protect an organization from any type of data breaches. However, it is necessary to follow certain rules to reduce cyberattacks, protect sensitive data and improve organization's security level.

Prevent network compromise

Follow these recommendations to keep your network protected and prevent cybercriminals from entering it.

  1. Train your employees to follow security rules. Introduce the list of rules for your employees to follow to keep your corporate network protected. These rules can include passwords management or use of social media networks.
  2. Create cyber awareness training program. Such training program cannot be limited to a list of security rules. It's a training course which should cover such topics as phishing, usage of public Wi-Fi, social media use, Internet and emails use, mobile devices security, best practices for creating strong passwords.
  3. Manage possible data leaks by hosting software on premises. Cloud applications used for internal communication, collaboration and documents storage may be compromised. Thus, by hosting such applications on premises you will take control over your corporate information and will keep it safe.
  4. Manage internal security vulnerabilities by using multi-factor authentication, installing firewall and antivirus software.
  5. Manage possible vendor risks by mitigating security risks from third-party vendors and service providers. This includes meticulous software testing before onboarding, its compliance with data protection regulations and its continuous monitoring.
  6. Create your cyber security threats response plan which will help to analyze organization security and reduce cyberattacks in future.

Prevent access to sensitive information

Data protection is a vital concern for individuals, businesses, and organizations of all sizes. As technology is increasingly used to store and transmit sensitive information, the risk of data breaches and theft has become a significant problem. Let's see how organizations and individuals can keep their data protected:

  1. Use strong passwords. Weak passwords will open the door to cybercriminals and will make it easier for them to get access to your private information or corporate data. Today using strong passwords is a must-follow rule not only within the organization but also while creating private accounts on social media, online stores or other services.
  2. Multi-factor authentication isn't a universal panacea but will make it harder for cybercriminals to get your credentials and access your personal profile or corporate network.
  3. Data encryption is a method used to safeguard data from theft, alteration, or compromise by converting it into a secret code that can only be accessed with a unique digital key. This helps protect people's privacy and secures data from attackers and other cybersecurity threats.
  4. Zero trust architecture is a cybersecurity strategy that protects an organization by eliminating implicit trust and continuously verifying every step of a digital interaction.
  5. Privileged data management strategy assumes that only privileged users can have administrative access to critical systems while other users cannot modify or delete data. This set of tools and strategies helps protect organizations from external or internal cyberthreats via strict control of privileged user's actions and access to sensitive information.

No matter whether your organization is big or small, cybercriminals do not sleep, and your corporate data may by a piece of cake for them. However, if you follow data protection rules, educate your employees and make cybersecurity one of the highest priorities, you will prevent data breaches, and your corporate information will be protected against thefts.