BotNet News

Data Breach

When hackers steal sensitive information from your company, it’s a Data Breach. This is a serious cybersecurity threat that can result in personal identity theft and damage to your reputation. It’s important to act quickly when a breach occurs so you can protect your customers and employees.

The types of information criminals can target in a data breach are varied. For example, financial institutions have to comply with regulations governing how they handle personal information (PII) like credit card numbers and names. Healthcare organizations are required to follow regulations governing PII like patients’ names and social security numbers, while telecommunications companies must comply with laws regulating the protection of employee confidential information (PHI).

Insider breaches are also common. When an insider intentionally leaks information, it’s a breach of trust. However, sometimes breaches are caused by mistakes. For instance, when Scotland’s national telehealth organization 24 NHS accidentally sent emails containing PHI to everyone in the company, it was a breach of privacy.

A data breach can be an external attack by a hacker or malware that targets specific systems. This type of attack can happen to any business with online services or servers that are exposed to the Internet. For example, hackers used a brute force attack to gain access to Equifax’s networks and steal a trove of personal information impacting about 145 million Americans.

Ensure that your network is segmented so that a breach on one server or website doesn’t affect other sites and servers. Also, make sure that passwords are strong and changed at least every two weeks to prevent hackers from guessing them or using software to break into your system. Finally, make sure that you have a formal risk assessment process to identify and respond to any secondary risks for users or systems after a data breach.