What is a Data Breach and How Can it Be Prevented?
Data Breach is a security incident that results in unauthorized access to sensitive and confidential information, including personal details (Social Security numbers, financial records) and business-critical data. Unlike cyberattacks that target specific targets or assets, data breaches can affect anyone, at any time.
The main risk is that cybercriminals can steal confidential data for their own financial gain, such as credit card information, account passwords and other login credentials. They may then use this information to hack into other sites using a technique called “credential stuffing” where stolen usernames and passwords from one site are used to crack into accounts on others.
Some sectors are more vulnerable to data breaches, for example the insurance and banking industries because they hold large volumes of sensitive customer information. However, even well-established companies can fall victim to a data breach. For example, in 2024 Prudential suffered a major data breach exposing customers’ names, addresses, phone numbers and driver’s licence numbers.
Breaches can occur by a variety of means, such as misconfigured systems that allow unauthorized parties to access data they shouldn’t be able to, human error such as accidentally sending sensitive information to the wrong person or losing devices with credentials saved on them, and physical attacks like theft of hardware or paper files. But in many cases a data breach can be prevented by having adequate technical and organisational protection measures in place.