What is a Data Breach?
About Data Breach
A data breach is a loss of personally identifiable information (PII) such as name, address, email address, phone number, credit card details and bank account numbers. Cybercriminals target this type of information to steal identities, sell it on the dark web and use it for fraudulent activity. This type of activity is becoming increasingly prevalent.
Some common causes of a data breach are malware, unpatched applications, physical skimming and insider risk. PII is most often stolen by attackers, but can also be leaked through social engineering, phishing attacks and accidental disclosure via loss or theft of devices, such as portable drives and laptops.
Unintentional disclosure through mistakes or negligence can also occur, for example when an employee accidentally downloads a malicious software program to their work device or connects to an unsecured WiFi network. Similarly, data breaches can result from improper server setup or unencrypted backups.
The 29 Biggest Data Breaches
It’s important to read all the information in the email notification that you receive if you are affected by a data breach, and to pay attention to what kind of personal data was exposed. If you reuse passwords across multiple sites, a breach at one site can be used to hack into your other accounts, using the stolen login credentials (name and email address) from the original site. This is called credential stuffing and can be very damaging.