Prevent Data Breaches: Mid-Market Strategies for Safeguarding

Mid-Market Data Strategies for Safeguarding

Data breaches and cyber attacks do not equate.

Data breaches refers to security incidents which compromise personal data in some way, for instance a distributed denial-of-service attack that overwhelms an entire website isnt considered data theft; while ransomware that locks customer records with threats of selling it are considered data breaches.

Even theft of physical hard drives, thumbdrives or paper files containing sensitive information counts as data breach.


What Are The Targets Of Data Breaches

An accident or simple mistake may lead to a data breach, while its true cost lies with those who gain unauthorized entry and steal and sell a companys intellectual property or personally identifiable data for personal gain or harm.

Criminals frequently employ the same strategy when targeting organizations: they prepare a breach by searching out vulnerabilities within them such as outdated software or employees vulnerable to phishing attempts.

Hackers identify vulnerable spots within a target network and devise campaigns designed to induce employees from insider positions to unwittingly download malware on accident.

At times they directly attack it as well.

Criminals typically find their target data more than five months later due to breaches occurring more quickly.

The following are some of the most common vulnerabilities that criminals target:

  1. Weak Credentials: Most data breaches are the result of weak or stolen credentials. If criminals know your username and password, they can gain access to your network. Cybercriminals are able to use brute-force attacks on email, websites and bank accounts because most people reuse their passwords.
  2. Stolen Credential: Cyber criminals can access your online bank accounts and other personal information if they get their hands on this stolen data.
  3. Compromise Assets: Malware attacks are used in order to bypass the normal authentication procedures that protect a computer.
  4. Fraudulent Payment Cards: Card skimmers are attached to gas pumps and ATMs, and they steal information whenever a card swipe is performed.
  5. Third Party Access: Despite your best efforts to secure your network and your data, malicious criminals may use third-party vendors in order to gain access to your system.
  6. Mobile Devices: When BYOD (bring your own device) is allowed in the workplace, employees can download malware-filled apps on their devices. This gives hackers access to the data thats stored. This includes emails and documents as well as the owner's PII.

An Expensive Problem

Cost of Data Breach 2022 Report states that an average global data breach costs USD 4,35 million while in the U.S.

its costs exceed twice this figure at USD 9,44 million; 83% of companies surveyed experienced multiple breaches as part of this research study.

Organizations of all shapes and sizes - large businesses, public enterprises, federal, state and local governments, non-profits - can be compromised.

Breaches that happen within healthcare, finance or public sectors have far reaching consequences due to handling sensitive government secrets, patient health records, bank account numbers or login credentials, plus any regulatory fines and penalties they will subsequently incur due to any breaches they experience. According to a report a healthcare data breach typically costs USD 10.10 Million on average; more than twice what an average cost for all breaches would typically cost.

Costs associated with data breaches vary considerably and depend on a range of factors; some more surprising than others.

On average, data breaches cost USD 1.42 Million due to lost revenues, customers and business. On average, detection and containment costs average USD 1.44M while victims typically incur fines, legal fees, settlement expenses as well as reporting expenses after experiencing one.

Reporting can take both time and resources so weve put together this handy list so you can stay safe when reporting.

  1. The U.S. Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022 mandates that companies in the national defense, financial, critical manufacturing, and other designated sectors notify the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of any cyber incidents that affect customer data or business operations within 72 hours.
  2. U.S. organizations governed by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act are required to notify HIPAA, the affected parties, and (in some circumstances) the media if protected health information is compromised.
  3. Each state in the U.S. has its own notification law.
  4. General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) require companies that do business with EU residents to report breaches within 72-hours. This reporting and other post-breach responsibilities--from paying fines, settlements and legal fees to providing free credit monitoring for affected customers--costs the average data breach victim USD 1.49 million.

Want More Information About Our Services? Talk to Our Consultants!

Why do data breaches occur? Data breaches are caused by

  1. Unintentional mistakes, e.g. an employee sending confidential information to the incorrect person via email
  2. Insiders who are malicious-angry employees or those laid off, or an employee greedy enough to be bribed by outsiders
  3. Hackers are malicious outsiders who commit cybercrimes with the intention of stealing data.

Malicious attacks typically target financial gain as their main motive. Hackers use stolen bank account or credit card details to drain funds directly from individuals and companies; or steal personal identifiable information (PII), like social security numbers or phone numbers for identity theft purposes (opening credit cards and loans in victims names) or selling it on darknet markets for identity fraud purposes at prices as high as USD 1, and for passport numbers USD 2000 per number respectively.

Cybercriminals may even sell such details onto other hackers for use for further illicit schemes!

Data breaches often serve a number of other purposes: unscrupulous companies can steal trade secrets from competitors; nation-state actors may gain entry to government systems to steal sensitive information such as military operations or national infrastructure details; hackers could access sensitive data with destructive intent - 17% of breaches according to Cost of a Data Breach 2022 Report show such damaging attacks often being conducted by hacktivists or nation-state actors who intend to harm an organization through these means.


Data Breaches: How They Happen

According to the Cost of a Data Breach 2022 Report, the average lifecycle of a data breach is 277-days-long. This means that it takes this long for an organization to detect and contain a breach.

The same pattern applies to intentional data breaches that are caused by external or internal threat actors.

Research: Hackers find a target and look for weaknesses in its computer system or staff. They can also buy malware that has previously been stolen to gain access to the network of their target.

Hacker Attacks: After identifying the target and the method. Hackers may launch a social-engineering campaign, exploit vulnerabilities directly in the targets system, steal log-in credentials or use any other common attack vectors for security breaches.

Hackers Compromise Data: They locate the data and take action. It could be exfiltrating or selling data, destroying it, or locking up the data with ransomware.

Data Breach Attack Vectors

Data breaches can be carried out by malicious actors using a wide range of attack vectors or methods. The most common are:

Stolen Or Compromised Credentials

According to The Price of a Data Breach 2022 report, 19% of data breaches involve stolen or compromised credentials.

Hackers can gain these credentials via social engineering attacks, brute-force attacks, purchasing them off dark web marketplaces or purchasing compromised credentials themselves.

Social Engineering Attacks

Social engineering involves psychological manipulation to penetrate peoples security without them realizing it. Phishing scams account for 16% of social engineering attacks; these fraudulent emails, texts, social media content or websites try to convince users into installing malware or sharing credentials with hackers.

Read More: Top Big Data Technologies that you need to know

Ransomware

Cost of a Data Breach estimates that in 2022 it will take a company an average of 326 days to identify and contain a ransomware breach.

In 2023, the average execution time for ransomware will have decreased from 60+ days in 2019 to just 3.85 days, according to the X-Force Threat Intelligence Index. An average ransomware attack costs USD 4,54 million. The ransom payment, which may be in the tens or hundreds of millions of dollars, is not included.

System Vulnerabilities

Cybercriminals gain entry to target networks by exploiting IT assets like websites, operating systems, endpoints and popular software like Microsoft Office or web browsers.

Once identified as vulnerabilities hackers will often inject malware into the exploit. Common forms of spyware used for data compromise are keyloggers which record keystrokes before sending back records back to command and control servers controlled by cybercriminals.

SQL Injection

SQL injection is another method to breach target systems directly. It takes advantage of SQL databases on unprotected websites.

Hackers inject malicious code in the search field of the website, causing the database to return personal data such as credit card numbers and customers details.

Human Error And It Failures

Hackers can leverage employees mistakes as an avenue into confidential data. Cost of a Data Breach report 2022 highlights cloud misconfiguration as the initial attack vector in 15 percent of breaches; employees also expose sensitive data by placing it in unsecure storage locations, losing devices with sensitive information on them or giving too many network users too many access rights for it.

Cybercriminals could take advantage of IT failures such as temporary system outages to gain entry.

Security Errors On Site Or In The Physical Environment

In order to obtain sensitive information, attackers may break into offices and steal hard drives and paper documents, or they might place devices on credit card readers in order to capture payment card data.


What is Data Protection?

What is Data Protection?

Data protection refers to safeguarding sensitive information against loss, corruption and reputational damage.

Data protection services have never been more crucial as data creation and storage continue to mushroom at an incredible pace.

More importantly, data has become ever more central to business operations; any significant interruption of downtime or loss could have catastrophic repercussions for an organization.

An organizations data breaches or losses are potentially devastating events that must be protected against. Most organizations today must adhere to some form of data privacy regulation or standard, yet failure to secure and protect it could result in serious ramifications, from financial losses to damaged reputation and even legal liability issues - making data protection one of the primary drivers behind digital transformation across all organizations.

Most data protection strategies are based on three main focuses.

  1. Data Security - Protecting data from malicious or accident damage
  2. Data Availability - Quickly restore data in case of loss or damage
  3. Access Control: Ensure that data only reaches those who need it.

Principles of Data Protection

Data protections basic principle is to make sure that data remains safe and accessible to users at any time. Data management and data availability are two of the key principles in data protection.

Data Availability - Ensures that users can still access data to conduct business even if it is corrupted.

Data Management - covers two major areas of data protection.

  1. Data Lifecycle Management - automatically distributes important data to online and offline storage, depending on its context and sensitivity. This includes identifying valuable data in todays cloud environment of big data, as well as helping businesses derive information from it by opening them up for reporting, analysis, development and testing.
  2. Information Lifecycle Management - assesses, classifies, and protects information assets to prevent application and user errors, malware or ransomware attacks, system crashes or malfunctions, and hardware failures.

Data Breach Mitigation And Prevention

Data Breach Mitigation And Prevention

Effective data security companies can reduce the security risk of data breaches if a cyberattack occurs.

Here are five strategies that tech companies can use to prevent data breaches.


1. Limit Data Access

Tech vendors must implement Zero-Trust Architecture to prevent data loss.

Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) presumptively prohibits access to any user residing outside the network perimeter without additional authentication and verification, in order to increase visibility and control over who accesses sensitive data.

Zero trust security models include various security controls - like least privileges principles and multi-factor identification methods - so as to increase control.

Principle of Least Privilege

By restricting users to only access required for their job tasks, the principle of least privilege reduces third-party risk from an insider threat that could cause accidental or intentional data leakage.

Regular audits must also take place so as to track changes to employees whose access privileges may have changed as a result of job changes or leaving companies.

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

MFA requires that users provide at least two authentication factors in order to gain access to an account or a system.

These factors are used to verify the user and stop cybercriminals from hacking corporate accounts using stolen passwords.


2. Offer Security Awareness Training

Verizons 2022 Data Breaches Investigations Report revealed that 82% reported breaches had a human component. Cybersecurity programs can help to prevent security breaches due to human error.

This is beneficial for all organizations including small businesses.

Basics like updating your operating system and using a VPN when you are on public networks.

The most common first attack vector that leads to a breach of data is a phishing scam. Tech companies awareness programs should be focused on preventing the vulnerabilities that allow these security incidents to occur, like cloud leaks and data leaks.

Read More: Ways to Achieve Data Security in the Cloud


Password Training

It is easy to crack weak passwords using brute force methods. Reusing passwords can also be a problem in the case of a data breach.

The following are best practices that employees should follow to keep their credentials secure:

  1. Use unique, strong passwords
  2. Update passwords regularly
  3. Dont share passwords
  4. Make social media private
  5. Password managers can be a security threat.
  6. Multi-factor authentication (MFA).

Phishing Scams: How to Identify Them

Cybercriminals use social engineering techniques such as phishing to trick employees into divulging sensitive information.

These hackers use this data to gain access to corporate systems. Once the hackers have gained access to the corporate network, they commit more serious cybercrimes such as malware injections and ransomware.

The characteristics of a phishing email include poor grammar and spelling, strange requests and an urgency. Teach employees to recognize these characteristics in order to prevent email compromises and data breaches.

If phishing awareness fails, organizations should deploy antivirus software to provide additional endpoint protection.


3. Segment Your Networks

For tech providers, network segmentation is an important practice in terms of security. Segmenting the main network into subnetworks will limit lateral movement within your network.

The other networks are protected even if one is compromised. This is unlike flat networks which allow cybercriminals to easily launch large-scale attacks because they have access to everything connected.

Each subnetwork has its own firewall, access point, and log-in credentials. These mechanisms offer additional protection from cyber threats that could cause the network to be affected by DDoS attacks, for example.


4. Cybersecurity Framework Implementation

All industries trust technology companies to secure their data. Customers in highly regulated industries need to ensure that their vendors are also compliant with these requirements.

Otherwise, they risk non-compliance.

Implementing a cybersecurity framework like NIST CSF can help you manage and mitigate cyber risks by providing a baseline of minimum security controls.

Frameworks allow you to map compliance, which helps you maintain regulatory compliance with industry standards such as PCI DSS or ISO 27001.

Customers will trust you if you can demonstrate that your company adheres to popular standards and regulations. Theyll also feel confident knowing that strict data security procedures are being implemented to protect sensitive information.


5. Stop Data Leaks

When sensitive information is accidentally revealed - whether physically or online - data leaks can occur. Data leaks are time sensitive - if they go undetected for too long, cybercriminals may find them and use them to launch a cyberattack.

Misconfigured software settings, for example, can expose corporate data and allow unauthorized access.

To stop data leakage, you need a robust incident response plan that includes fast remediation. This is important to do before cybercriminals find the exposures.

Data leak detection software continuously monitors the entire web to detect data leaks that may affect an organization or its vendors. This helps prevent potential security breaches.


6. Identify All Vulnerabilities

According to research, 15 minutes after a CVE announcement, cybercriminals begin searching for security vulnerabilities.

A zero-day exploit can have fatal effects on tech companies. For instance, hackers can infect hundreds of users with malware or ransomware by taking advantage of software update vulnerabilities.

The secret to quick vulnerability detection is finding and fixing software flaws before they serve as a major entry point for supply chain attacks.

Reliable attack-surface management (ASM)solutions give tech companies the speed and visibility they need to manage cyber threats and emerging vulnerabilities.

ASM detects and prioritizes remediation efforts in real-time, unlike manual detection methods.

Want More Information About Our Services? Talk to Our Consultants!


The Conclusion Of The Article Is:

We can conclude that data breaches are increasing in frequency and severity, especially for businesses. They can have a negative impact on their business.

Data breaches can occur for a variety of reasons, both intentional and unintentional. It is important to have a model and guideline to help overcome these data breaches, including strong measurable abilities.

Small and large companies will continue to face this issue of data breaches so its better to take precautions to ensure that all the information is safe and secure.


References

  1. 🔗 Google scholar
  2. 🔗 Wikipedia
  3. 🔗 NyTimes