Data Breaches and You

Data Breaches and You

Data breaches can affect any business and could possibly be devastating to your business as they can compromise sensitive data such as sensitive documents and customer details.

These breaches can be caused in a number of ways

• • 67% are caused by credential theft, of which 37% used stolen or weak credentials 25% involved phishing and Human error accounted for 22%.

 

• • 43% of breaches involved web application attacks (attackers exploiting a vulnerability in a website or web application to get access to a database containing sensitive information such as personal data and banking information)

 

below are a few tips on how you can avoid web application breaches;

• • Do your research. Be careful which service providers you do business with, Reputable providers will be happy to provide verifiable information on the data protection measures they have in place.

 

• • Enable automatic updates. These update settings can be especially valuable where you have a scattered workforce. It means that you can be sure vulnerabilities are closed off quickly.

 

Fewer than 1 in 20 breaches exploit vulnerabilities. But that’s not to say you can afford to ignore those software security updates when you get them. As attackers will try easy-to-exploit vulnerabilities if they’re available, underlining the importance of having a system in place to manage updates.

Malware plays a part in data breaches too, whether that be a malicious document attached to an email or ransomware. Ransomware was involved in 27% of incidents involving malware. Tips on how you can prepare for ransomware are below;

• • Ensure you have a reputable antivirus and firewall and ensure you have spam filters turned on

 

• • Regular backups of important files to ensure that in the event of an attack, you will only lose minimal files.

 

• • Ensure that backups are kept separate from your network.

 

If you do find yourself getting infected by ransomware, never pay the ransom, older ransomware is still out there, and if you send a payment to ransomware that the attackers no longer monitor you will not get your files back.

In conclusion data breaches are something you should care about as they can happen to anyone and any company. Always take every precaution available to help prevent and minimise the effect of if one does occur.

If you have any concerns about security in your business, contact us here.