February 6, 2019 in Banks, Business, Cloud, Consulting, Cybersecurity, Financial, Leadership, Technology, Uncategorized
Data Breaches Are Worse Than You Think
Data Breaches Are Still Relevant
Hacking is alive and well in 2019. According to recent information published by ID Theft Resource Center, reported incidents are increasing and consumers are being impacted in greater numbers. Data breaches account for the majority of cybersecurity incidents, with several organizations reporting massive customer data loss in 2018.
Not A Simple Fix
According to industry experts, the increase in data breaches can be attributed to several factors:
- Locations – companies are placing data within hidden and protected environments. This provides the ability to fortify and protect – but also provides hackers the breadcrumbs to know where to strike.
- Size – companies are creating massive datasets for analyzing customer trends. This provides huge wins from a business perspective, but greater risk for security as these new data warehouses are a goldmine for hackers.
- Communication – information on new vulnerabilities and exploits travels quickly. Across multiple platforms, hackers are able to collaborate, share information and collectively target weak organizations.
- Organizations should evaluate data. Determine where it resides and classify the type of data.
- Work alongside IT to ensure a clear path to remediation of vulnerabilities or known exploits exists. It’s impossible to stay ahead of everything – but having metrics to measure things like ‘time-to-patch’ can be helpful.
- Educate within the organization to understand the risk vs. reward of working with large data. If possible, segment information – this can reduce risk associated with a breach.
- Follow security best practices around data encryption and password complexity. Creating policies which require best practices can help ensure your organization is not a target.
