Data Breach - What is it? And what are its types?

 Advancement in technology has made it possible to rely heavily on the use of systems, software, and the internet. Every single sector including banking, health care, education, technology, and more are bound to use this modern way of operating their routine activities. With the rapid growth in connectivity and the use of systems or software for storing or feeding personal and financial information, we frequently hear a term as a data breach. Most individuals suggest others not to install particular apps, not taking a credit card from a certain bank, or not dealing with XYZ company to protect your information and money. These indicate data breaches. 

With such extensive use of systems and technology, various insects have been born. These creepy insects can stick to your sensitive data until they have an access to it. And that’s what data breach is all about. But let’s delve deeper into the data breach concept.

What is Data Breach?

The availability of sensitive data and information in an untrusted manner by unauthentic resources, without taking permission from concerned individuals and organizations is known as a data breach. This involves personal data of employees or individuals, their financial information, their confidential or sensitive information, etc. Sometimes we call it a data or information leak. 

This poses to be a great threat to organizations. Data breaches can have legal consequences, so eliminating vulnerabilities has become a top priority for all organizations. It is important to understand that it is not external factors that are trying to access your data, but other intentional and unintentional things may happen within the company, which may lead to data leakage.

What are the types of data breaches?

After discussing what is a data breach let’s delve into its types;

Cyber Attacks - Today, cyber attacks have become commonplace. We often hear militant groups slander government websites. A more common word is hackers. In other words, cyber attacks refer to attacks on computers, networks, or servers by stealing information, tampering with, and deleting data, thereby causing serious damage to other organizations.

One of the common forms of cyberattacks is the use of malware that catches the sensitive data and information of users and hence causing serious damages to the user’s and organization’s assets. Just like at the individual level, it can be used to collect a person's bank login credentials, which can then be used to transfer their funds to other accounts. Some malicious software can help you completely control other systems so that you can perform tasks at your command.

To get rid of the cyber attacks and threats, organizations often refer to independent software testing company for their assistance. An independent software company gets into the system or software and dig out the errors and vulnerabilities that are of high chance to get exploited. 

Social Engineering - This is another common forms of attack. Here, criminals and hackers impersonate legitimate and authorized personnel and try to collect sensitive information from company employees. Phishing is a common method. This includes e-mails that look real and people want to open them or click on links in them to compromise security.

Ransomware - One of the rapidly growing cyber threats all over the world is none other than ransomware. This malware or ransomware encrypts all the files in your system if there is no decryption key, all data may eventually be lost. At this point, the attacker can blackmail a large number of funds to share the decryption key.

This can be very dangerous for many organizations because even with all the network security the malware can easily find its way to enter your system via phishing emails, attachments, etc. 

Robbery - The system in the organization has plenty of information stored in it. Physical theft is another cause of data leakage. This includes computers, hard drives, and even hard copies of documents that are not shredded after use.

Theft does not necessarily mean that someone breaks into the office, it can also happen outside the organization. Just like an unattended laptop by an employee in a coffee shop, or an important file that has not been shredded in the trash can, if the data is not completely erased, the laptop and other digital media will be buried in the trash and discarded. Into the wrong hands. Lead to data leakage.

Conclusion

Since now you are aware of what damages data breaches can cause to your systems, you must be cognizant about these data breaches and must have completed your homework to fight against these leakages.