According to statistics, there were nearly 179 million records exposed due to data breaches in 2017, and the primary casualties of these breaches were in the business sector. As data breach incidents rise every year, businesses are suffering high financial losses from insecure database. As a result of these losses, businesses are now improving their efforts when it comes to identifying threats and reducing their exposure.

There are many resources that talk about this topic like VPN Australia for the latest news and developments relating to online security, internet privacy, and VPN technology. Before exploring on possible solutions, it’s important to pinpoint why data breaches happen and what the consequences are.

Data Breaches and Why They Happen

Data breaches are the unintentional or intentional release of confidential or secure information to outsiders. These breaches are usually done by cybercriminals to mine for information valuable to third-party organizations or associates. This may include loss or theft of unencrypted information for the benefit of a hostile organization, such as business competitors.

With the business sector suffering from 91% of the total number of data breach incidents, it has been found that business data had been the target of such attacks. Cyber attacks primarily focus on financial institutions and businesses with high financial value. Data from these high-value targets can be and will be used against their companies and interests.

Here are examples of high-value data that cybercriminals can utilize to impose damage to your business, and their particular consequences:

  • Breach on financial records that include bank accounts, investment details, credit card information and other similar data. The most common consequence that arises from data breach involving financial information is credit card fraud, since cybercriminals can use your credit card as fraudulent source of funds for their transactions.
  • Breach on personal identification data, which include social security numbers, birth dates, educational backgrounds, contact details, and other related information. The consequence for data breach regarding  personal identity can be identity theft, where your information can then be used to obtain credit cards and financial advantages deliberately.
  • Breach on intellectual property that include specifications of products, manuals and drawings, marketing symbols and texts, scientific formulas, and proprietary software. The consequence for a data breach regarding intellectual property is that your competition can use the information to produce similar services and products to compete against your company.
  • Breach on legal information, which include acquisition and merger details, court case documents, business practices, legal opinions, and regulatory rulings. The consequences following a legal information data breach may lead to statutory damages, as cyber criminals may leak legal documents that can incriminate your legal position.

The costs of having these consequences together with possible lawsuits and legal penalties will impose heavy financial losses to companies.

Identifying breach threats

Data breach threats that target different kinds of valuable information can come from your consultants, suppliers, employees, or anyone that has access to your network; they can access your data through your system, mobile devices, email accounts, and even cloud services. Traditionally, perimeter protection can offer enough security to safeguard your information from a data breach threat. However, cybercriminals have developed more advanced ways of acquiring access to your networks.

Data protection if not implemented properly will not work against insiders. Here are examples of threats from insiders:

  • Discontented employees may leak important intellectual property information.
  • Malicious websites and emails can be used by external individuals to access your employee computers.
  • Cloud service providers will have unrestricted access to your cloud data.

When facing such threats, businesses must identify the effect of these security breaches, and impose a practical solution to reduce its risks. If you want to learn more about identifying data breach threats, the Australis College IT Course provides exceptional industry-relevant training for IT security solutions.

Possible risk-reducing solutions

Perimeter security and protective measures will do their jobs when appropriately implemented. However, cybercriminals have been known to pass through these traditional security measures easily. Having additional security solutions will reduce your risks of data breaches and financial nightmares. Here are possible risk-reducing solutions:

  • Data-centric protection

This will allow you specific controlover who reads and writes high-value information. When specific emails or filesare encrypted properly, data breaches by an insider will be not aseffective as compared to not having data-centric protection.

  • VPN (Virtual Private Network)

VPNs will secure your wireless connections through their local access points while working inside your office. VPN solutions offer strong protection without sacrificing network performance.

Closing thoughts

Data breach incidents can be prevented with proper knowledge and security implementations. There should be strict security protocols and limited number of people who can access certain information. May you use this article to safeguard your business from cyber attacks, make sure to keep your software updated and consider data-centric protection.