What is a Data Breach and How Does it Affect Our Digital Lives?
From breaches involving critical infrastructure to hackers stealing healthcare data at UC San Diego Health, there’s been no shortage of cybersecurity mishaps in the news over the last two years. With that in mind, it’s important to understand what exactly a Data Breach is and how it impacts our digital lives.
A data breach is the exposure of personal information like passwords, credit card numbers, email addresses or names to cybercriminals. These breaches can range from minor annoyances that force us to change our passwords to massive fraud and identity theft that can drain our bank accounts or wreck our credit rating. Breaches can happen through malicious hacking or malware attacks; skimming devices that steal credit cards; accidental mistakes or negligence by companies that expose data; or the loss and theft of computers, drives or mobile devices.
Once a breach occurs, it’s important to be on the lookout for phishing scams and other fraud to keep your information secure. Cybercriminals may also use stolen usernames and passwords to break into other accounts in a process known as credential stuffing.
The best way to prevent data breaches is to take proactive measures like using multi-factor authentication, enabling device encryption and leveraging a VPN. These simple steps, combined with a comprehensive work management platform with built-in security features like MFA and regular training sessions, can help to protect your organization from cyberattacks. Having a strategy in place for how to respond to a data breach is also essential, such as quickly communicating with affected users to assess and contain the incident.