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About Data Breach

A data breach occurs when personal information is stolen from a business, organization or individual by cybercriminals. This information can include financial data, healthcare records, customer records and intellectual property. The breach can occur either intentionally or unintentionally and is often the result of security vulnerabilities, flaws or negligence. It can impact any size of business from a small local firm to large global organizations.

Cyber criminals can use stolen data for a variety of reasons including financial gain, identity theft, extortion and more. Attacks may involve brute force attacks to crack passwords, buying credentials off the dark web or social engineering techniques like phishing. Attackers can also physically steal devices such as laptops, mobile phones and external hard drives and gain access to confidential data.

When a data breach is identified it must be investigated and managed to mitigate damage, inform stakeholders and prevent future incidents. This involves working quickly to identify, investigate and restrict access on applications, servers, services and devices. It also means monitoring for signs of unauthorized movement and deploying tools to detect activity on your network.

The type of response required varies depending on the data affected and the severity of the threat. For example, a health insurance company suffering a breach that reveals medical records of patients must notify the Department of Health and Human Services and affected individuals without unreasonable delay. However, a university experiencing a breach that exposes alumni contact details does not need to notify individuals because it is unlikely to pose a high risk to their rights and freedoms.