What is Data Breach and How To Prevent It?

What is a Data Breach?

A data breach is a security issue in which information or data is accessed without any authorization. In other words, when your data is accessed by an unauthorized user without your permission is known as a Data breach. Data breaches can be harmful in various ways to both businesses and individuals. It can affect your reputation in a bad way, and in the most severe cases, can damage lives as well. Also, data breaches take much time to repair which can cost thousands of bucks.

Commonly, data breaches can result in the loss of your sensitive information like bank account details, credit card numbers, source code, driving license number, etc.

Now that you know what is a data breach, you must be thinking, what can cause data breaches? Here we go.

Causes of Data Breaches

There are many types of data breach methods that a cyber attacker can use to access your personal information. However, the causes remain the same for all. Below are some of the main causes of a data breach:

Poor or weak login credentials

When you use weak passwords to login into your bank account site or any other website, this can lead you to become a soft target of a cybercriminal.

Phishing/Malware

Phishing is a common technique used by cybercriminals to get access to your personal and sensitive information. Malicious software can enter into your system when you visit a site that looks similar to your bank account site or any other trusted website.

Insider Threats

You can become a victim when you have shared your personal login credentials with a lot of people that you claim you trust. Say, in an organization, where only trusted employees have your login credentials. But, you never know when someone has malicious intent towards you or your organization. These are commonly known as insider threats that can lead to cybercrimes. 

Missing or stolen devices like your laptop, mobile phone, etc.

When your personal device such as a laptop went missing or stolen and you already being logged in to your banking site or any other site. It can lead to cybercriminals accessing your details and can leave your bank account empty. 

Notable Data Breaches

These days, it could feel like stories as massive data breaches are often reported in the news. There are many data breaches that have taken place in history that makes more and more people aware of the concept of data breaches. Some of the notable data breaches are mentioned below:

Yahoo

Yahoo experienced a catastrophic data breach in 2013 but revealed in 2016 when a separate security issue was addressed.

At first, Yahoo reported that the breach affected over 1 billion e-mail accounts. The exposed user information includes names, contact details, and date of birth as well as encrypted passwords and certain security questions and replies that were encrypted or not. Yahoo has revealed that the incident affected all three billion company email accounts following a detailed survey of the 2013 data breach.

Equifax

A data breach that disclosed the personal information of around 147 million consumers was reported by Equifax, one of the biggest credit card agencies in the U.S., in September 2017. Including social security numbers, date of birth, addresses, and driver’s license number. In addition, some 209,000 individuals have been stolen their credit card information.

Twitter

In May 2018, Twitter’s social media company warned users of an inability to keep passwords in an internal log and to make the internet accessible for all user credentials. Twitter advised its 330 million users to reset their passwords, but the company claimed the issue had been corrected, and no evidence of a breach or misuse was revealed. Twitter did not provide the number of individuals affected but indicated that there were considerable numbers of users and that they were revealed for several months.

How To Prevent Data Breach?

You can protect against data breaches by taking some of the preventive practices that are mentioned below:

Use Strong Passwords

You should always use strong passwords when you are logging in to your banking site or any other social media handle accounts. You can also use password managers to help to secure your passwords and prevent incidents.

Monitor Your Bank Account Activity Regularly

Try to regularly keep an eye on your bank account status. This will help update you on your bank account activities. Take immediate action when your bank sent email alerts to confirm if you are signing up from a particular device at a particular location.

Use a Secure Code On Your Personal Devices

If you are a person who never places an encryption code on your smartphone or laptop, then you should consider placing it. Unencrypted devices can lead you to become a victim easily.

Visit Only Trusted Websites

When you are logging in to your bank account via the web, make sure that you landed on the official website and not an identical one. If you get suspicious of changes in the website like the interface, or slow site speed, leave it immediately, and try to find a legitimate website. Official websites have SSL certifications that prove secure landing on the websites. However, it doesn’t always guarantee the legit site that you are finding. Try to log in from the official app if possible.

Avoid Sharing Your Credentials With Many People

You should consider sharing your personal credentials with the people you utmostly trust. Try to avoid sharing your credentials with too many people especially in an organization. It is advised to keep your personal details to yourself, and if needed, then share with one or two trusted people. 

Educate Your Employees About Data Breach

As an owner of the organization, you should educate or train your employees about data breaches and make them aware of how can they prevent them. Human resource is one of the powerful investment in your organization, you should make them more knowledgeable about the essential security elements.