Data Breaches: 7 Major Reasons Why It Usually Happens
For business, a data breach can be a disaster. A data breach compromises the customer information, inventory list, business process, sensitive business data, and transaction history that no business wants to experience.
A data breach is beyond financial losses and complex banking processes. When a data breach happens, customers lose faith in your business and start taking their steps back from your business. This can ultimately cripple businesses’ operations.
Knowing what causes a data breach will help your business prepare itself with the right security protocols and prevent it from happening.
With that in mind, we are here with the list of the reasons behind why data breaches happen.
What Is A Data Breach?
Before we can jump to the reason behind data breaches, we would like to give a small definition of a data breach. This ensures that even a new business owner reading the article will understand what they are dealing with.
A data breach is a security incident in which your information is compromised—or simply speaking, accessed without your permission. Unfortunately, even a simple data breach can hurt businesses and their customers in many ways.
For instance, individuals become exposed to identity theft; organizations lose their sensitive data, giving their competitors an advantage to take the lead in the market.
Major Reasons Behind Data Breaches
Cybercrime is a profitable industry that continues to grow. Hackers seek personal information or sensitive data to steal money or compromise identities.
There are just too many reasons behind the data breach. Although we cannot add the complete list, we have certainly listed down the major reason behind the data breaches.
1. Malware
Malware is not just a problem for your computer at home, but it is also an ever-expanding threat that is aimed directly at the company’s system. While many malware events are minor, the sheer number of events can be worrying.
To avoid such worries, you just need an antivirus in your system that can deal with any malware attack. To download antivirus in your system, visit the pirate bay.
2. Social Engineering
As a hacker, why go to the extent of creating an exploiting point to access data when you can simply convince them with more legitimate claims.
Social engineering is easy to catch up with. When a person is offering an offer that is too good to be true, that is where your suspicious radar must get active.
Just think about it, if somebody really wants to invest $10 million in your business, why would they mail. Such serious matters need to be discussed face to face.
3. Insider Threats
The proverb best explains insider threats – Keep your friends close, but enemies closer. This reason might fall under human error, but the consequences are far more severe.
The insider threat here is referred to the people you trust and share sensitive information with. They might use this to their advantage and expose your personal details to others for the sake of their own profits.
4. Human Error
Unfortunately, one of the major contributors to data breaches is human errors. According to the statistics from CompTIA, Human Errors account for 52% of the total data breaches that happen all around the world.
The specific nature of error may vary, but it must dwell among the following.
- Weak passwords.
- Sharing sensitive data with the wrong person.
- Sharing passwords.
- Falling victim to phishing scams.
5. Physical Theft
This might not be as dangerous as the other reasons, but yes, they do contribute to the data breaches. Physical theft might include laptops, desktops, CDs, DVDs, and even servers containing sensitive information.
The severity of data breaches by a stolen device depends on how sensitive information is inside the device. The more sensitive data result in a more severe data breach.
6. Improper configuration
Mistakes happen; errors are made. There is nothing wrong with that. But the moment you become aware of the improper configuration, current it immediately.
Mistakes can be kept to a minimum with the correct professional in charge of the data. In fact, with the professional taking care of the data flow, it is less likely to lead to any major data breach.
7. Too Many Permissions
Having too much permission to particular information in the organization gives hackers free rein to take advantage of.
If the organization does not have control over who has permission to what content, you might not be able to find it even if a hacker is sitting amongst you.
Final Thoughts
There you have it. Now you know the reasons behind why data breaches happen. Work on the reasons and see that these loopholes are sealed.
If you have any other queries in your mind, lay them down in the comment section.
