What is a Data Breach?
A Data Breach is a cyberattack that exposes personal information, confidential business data or intellectual property to unauthorized people or companies. This can happen to businesses of any size, non-profit organizations and even government agencies. This type of attack can be devastating to an organization’s reputation, finances and operations. When a company suffers a breach, customers may choose to stop doing business with it. In addition, organizations might face expensive fines from regulators if they fail to meet data privacy regulations.
A hacker’s lifecycle often begins with finding a vulnerability that is exploited to gain access to the data they want. They will then use techniques such as lateral movement to move deeper into a network after they gain initial access. This can be through social engineering, phishing attacks or brute force attacks that work through all possible combinations of letters and numbers until they get the right one.
Once they have the information they need, they will sell it or use it for nefarious purposes such as identity theft, fraud, ransomware or extortion. In the case of ransomware, cybercriminals encrypt data and apps on a corporate system to prevent people from using them until the company pays a ransom.
Other reasons for breaches include insider cyberthreats, flaws in hardware or software systems, phishing attacks and malware infections such as spyware and viruses. The last of these is particularly damaging because it can be undetected for long periods of time while quietly spying on a computer or device.