What is a Data Breach?
Data Breach is a cyberattack that leads to the loss or theft of confidential information like personally identifiable information (PII), financial records, healthcare data and login credentials for email accounts, social media and online banking. Data breaches can be caused by phishing, malware, skimming, unpatched software, physical theft of devices or mishandled, misplaced or improperly decommissioned data.
The most common cause of a breach is hacking by malicious outsiders, who can be lone actors or part of an organized criminal gang. They can use the stolen data to make money by selling it on the dark web, draining bank accounts or taking out loans and credit cards in their victims’ names. They may also sell passwords on the dark web, which can lead to more thefts of other sites where those same logins are used.
Other reasons for a data breach include greedy or angry employees seeking revenge against a company, sabotage by nation states or terrorist groups and poor security practices that allow attackers to exploit flaws in software, unpatched systems or human error. These causes can be preventable by having a strong incident response team, training staff on how to react in the event of an attack and implementing appropriate technical and organizational protection measures.
Companies can take a number of steps after an attack including investigating the breach, containing it, notifying affected individuals and compensating them. This can include free credit monitoring and other services to help mitigate risks resulting from the breach.