What to know about a Data Breach and How to Prevent it from Affecting your Business

What Is A Data Breach?

A data breach is a security crisis in which preserved data is accessed or obtained by unauthorized hackers. The protected data can incorporate information about specific clients or even employees, such as payment card information personally identifiable information (PII), personal identification number (PIN) personal health information, etc. 

A data breach is distinct from data loss, which is when data can no longer be accessed because of a hardware failure or other causes. The breached data can also include corporate erudition or highly confidential data unique to an organization, such as contract codes, specifications about production methods, consumer and supplier data, learning about incorporations and benefits, or information about prosecutions or other cases.

Why Prevention of Data Breach Is Better Than Cure

 According to a study conducted in 2018 by Ponemon Institute’s Cost of a Data Breach study, an information breach goes undiscovered for an aggregate of 190 days. Often the damage is already done by the time the cybersecurity negligence is discovered and corrected. The cybercriminals accountable will have used unfettered access to databases of confidential data. 

A data breach comes as a result of a cyber attack that enables hackers and criminals to gain unapproved entree to a network or computer system and steal the secret, confidential and financial data of the customers or users included within. Common cyberattacks used in data breaches include the following:

Prevent Data Breach From Affecting Your Business

If your organization is looking to prevent the data breach from affecting your business, the wise choice would be to implement a data breach response plan into the cybersecurity procedure of your business. Here are a few things that every data breach response plan should include in their strategy.

1) Determine How Vulnerable Your Organization is to an Attack

Ascertaining how exposed your organization is to falling prey of a cyberthreat should be the preeminent concern you investigate when devising a response plan. Thus organizations conduct a vulnerability assessment, which is a systematic process in which tools are used to assess systems and technologies to identify vulnerabilities.

2) Identify Data That Constitutes a Data Breach

Every data breach response plan demands to determine the nature of data that would develop a data breach. Generally speaking, data that comprises of consumer and employee information, such as social security numbers and credit card numbers, would formulate severe concerns for a company if compromised or endangered.

3) Empower the Breach Response Team

When devising your response plan, allocate time for empowering your cyber breach response team. In order to maintain your enterprise capital by requiring to bring in cybersecurity experts, adjust the response plan with existing business succession plans. Consequently, the breach response team will be able to make adequate and appropriate judgments in the wake of a data breach.

4) Monitor the Flow of Suspicious Traffic

The importance of assiduously examining the traffic streaming in and out of both your devices and network is truly essential. There are interruption apprehension and prevention solutions (IDS/IPS) that can be placed on the company network or on employee devices and monitored by the outsourced or team of cybersecurity experts.

Protect Your Business from a Security Breach

Data breaches are more prevalent these days than ever before. The insight of cybercriminals and hackers seem to develop with the advancement of innovative technologies and global data.  

The necessary measures mentioned can be an excellent origin intent in overcoming the hazard of a data breach. Nevertheless, each of them demands thorough interpretation and analysis of the specifics of your company’s business. Investing more in cybersecurity to avoid threats can benefit your organization to identify and anticipate many cybercrimes as well.