Most Common Causes of Data Breach and How to Prevent It

Which are the most common causes of a Data Breach and how to prevent It? How can organizations prevent it?

Data breaches are highly damaging and equally embarrassing for businesses andconsumers. If you look at Verizon’s 2020 Data Breach Investigations Report, you canfind some of the most common causes of data breaches. However, you will also besurprised to learn that most breaches result from inadequate data security measures.Let us look at some of the most common causes of data breaches and ways to preventthem.Physical Actions Lead to Data BreachesA small percentage of all the data breach incidents occur because of physical actionsthat don’t involve technology. For instance, the theft of devices like laptops, storagedevices, smartphones, or paperwork can lead to data breaches. Most of us are workingfrom our homes because of the pandemic. We might not go out too much, but it istypical to take laptops or smartphones everywhere we go. If you fail to safeguard yourdevices against theft, the chances are higher that you’ll fall prey to data breaches. Youhave to stay vigilant against physical thefts, which can lead to financial losses as well.Unauthorized AccessMembers of an organization or an employee might get unauthorized access to sensitiveconsumer data or business information. There’re also instances where employees werefound to be involved in privilege abuse. The information that an employee accidentallydiscovered was used illegally or at times even unknowingly. Often employees ended upsharing, copying, deleting, and even editing data they weren’t authorized to.Malware AttacksHackers and cybercriminals often launch malware attacks to achieve their maliciousgoals. Some of the most popular ones include RAM scraping, wherein the memory oftargeted devices is scanned for collecting sensitive information. Some malware attacksinstall tools like keyloggers to capture the keystrokes for stealing passwords or othersensitive information.Social EngineeringIt’s been found that almost one-fourth of the data breach is carried out by using socialengineering. Fraudsters often act as though they belong to a particular organization orbusiness and then extract sensitive data from unsuspecting users. One common

method used for social engineering is phishing, wherein cybercriminals send legitimate-looking malicious emails intended to extort sensitive financial data.The fraudsters also use phone calls, WhatsApp messages, and even SMS to trap theirvictims. You can easily prevent such misuse of data by providing very little informationand completely refrain from sharing any financial data with unknown entities.Human ErrorA data breach is often a result of human error, including data sharing with wrongindividuals, weak passwords, and more information than needed. Well, if you’re aregular online shopper, the chances are higher that you sign up with multiple onlinestores and service providers to buy products and services.It’s equally valid that you also fill up various online forms on the pretext of getting someattractive discounts. Now, most of these forms ask for too much information, andusually, we don’t give a second thought before filling them. Now, this data can end up inthe hands of people who can use it in any possible manner, legal or otherwise. Thus,the only way to prevent such unwanted data breaches is to ramp up internal networksecurity and carry out network security audits from time to time.In some cases, the data we provide online can also leak due to unsecured connections.For instance, if you supply information to a website using HTTP, anyone willing to listencan likely steal that data.Additionally, many Wi-Fi connections are, unfortunately, rather unsafe. Take public Wi-Fi hotspots as a cautionary tale. Many of them allow traffic to travel unencrypted,meaning that both network managers and other people nearby can see what you aredoing. A security recommendation is to use a Virtual Private Network. A VPN app is aneasy-to-use solution that will encrypt information about your traffic. Thus, it ensures thatyour connection is always safe, regardless of the circumstances.HackingWell, this is the top reason behind approximately half of the data breaches in the world.From SQL injection to DDoS attacks, a wide range of methods has been used to hackinto secure networks and steal critical data. Hacking attempts can be prevented bybeefing up network security and using the latest network security tools for identifyingand stopping brute force attacks.The defense against data breaches includes several things:

Companies need to apply the necessary security measures.They must educate their employees about cybersecurity, social engineering, andphishing.Employees should only have access to information that is critical for them.Consumers should be wary of their data as well. They can protect theirconnections and choose to supply companies with as little information aspossible. However, most data breaches happen in a rather unfortunate scenario. Frequently,hackers discover databases that are not protected adequately. Then, it is relatively easyto steal such information. It might include anything from names to private photos orvideo footage. Thus, it is extremely important for businesses to be vigilant about howtheir data is stored online. In many reported cases, data breaches could have beenprevented.Author Bio Anas Baig: With a passion for working on disruptive products, Anas Baig is currently working as a Product Lead at the Silicon Valley based company – SECURITI.ai. He holds a degree of Computer Science from Iqra University and specializes in Information Security & Data Privacy.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, data breach)

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