As more and more companies are experiencing destroying data breaches, the long waves of leaked data is on the rise. The rising scale of the graph for security breaches shows that how hackers are highly motivated by money to acquire sensitive data and are of the thought that private data is the best one to get compromised. Despite the increasing cases of breaches, it’s quite shocking to see that companies are still not prepared and that’s why Data Breach Happen.
The accelerating trend of data breaches globally has created wreaking havoc on businesses. They occur when confidential or sensitive information is accessed or disclosed in an unauthorized manner.
Data breaches can have a deep-lasting effect on businesses – they hit the reputation and breaks the customer’s trust. Also, there is a financial cost that businesses need to bear of tackling the entire crisis along with a negative image in the news, however, companies can protect themselves from data breaches by staying aware of the causes of data breaches & must follow Data Security tools.
So, let’s take a sneak peek into How does Data Breach Happen?
- Weak Password = Data Breach Happen! Why strong password is more important than ever
In today’s digital world, having a strong password isn’t just an abstract idea that’ll make your life easier, however, having a strong password is the cynosure of comprehensive security. Weak passwords are just an easy entry into the pertinent data of the organization. According to the Verizon Data Breach Report, 80% of the data breaches are a result of poor or stolen passwords.
If you don’t have stringent password policies that demand strong passwords, then you leave yourself open to external attacks. Hackers take advantage of the weak and easy-to-guess passwords and steal the sensitive data of your organization. Hence, it’s important to make sure that you choose passwords that are hard to guess.
- Malware = Data Breach Happen
Malware is malicious software that attackers or hackers attempt to install in your system, usually by making use of unpatched applications and suspicious emails. Some malware will track your typing via Keyloggers to steal your passwords, others will lock your system and will demand a ransom to unlock it.
The way to prevent malware is to educate your users on how to spot phishing attacks and monitor the suspicious moves of the attackers so that your data can stay safe and secured.
- Social Engineering = Data Breach Happen
Social Engineering means exploiting human errors and behaviors to conduct a cyberattack. For example, let’s suppose someone impersonates himself/herself as an IT professional and requests your login information to ward off a security flaw on your device. Now, in case you provided the keys to your account to that malicious person, he/she will steal all your sensitive data and all your data will be lost in just a second this is How does a Data Breach Happen.
Well, below are some of the red flags that can help you avoid becoming a victim of social engineering:
- Your “friend” sends you a strange message
- The offer received feels too good to be true
- The sender is unable to prove their identity
- The request is urgent
- You’re receiving the help that you didn’t even ask for
Social Engineering can happen everywhere, online and offline. So, be aware of the red flags and don’t get trapped in social engineering.
- Human Errors = Data Breach Happen
Many times, a data breach takes place as a result of human errors such as:
- When you shared your password with the third party
- When you inserted an unknown USB into your system
- When you didn’t choose strong passwords
- When you sent sensitive data to a wrong person
All the above things contribute to a data breach. Hence, it’s always advisable not to do the above things if you want to stay protected in a world full of breaches.
- Insider Threats due to misuse of privileged access = Data Breach Happen
None of you believes that your trusted employee could stab you in your back, but the simple matter of the fact is that insiders are the most common causes of data breaches. Insiders can be a threat to your security in several ways.
If you want to fend away the risks of insider threats, it’s better to limit access to your sensitive data to only those accounts that genuinely need access to perform their business functions.
Conclusion
Being aware of these common causes of data breaches is the first step towards implementing safety to lessen the impact of cyber threats on your business. Hence, it is mandatory to keep the causes of data breaches in your head if you want to win the digital game.
