Implications of Neglecting Data Security: 5 Penalties of Data Breaches
In today's digital age, identity theft has become a significant concern for both individuals and businesses. This article presents strategies to protect personal and sensitive data from evolving cyber threats and insider risks.
A heart-wrenching example of identity theft comes from Jack, who lost his wallet and later found himself sent bills for loans he never took out. His story underscores the emotional despair, potential imprisonment, and reputational damage that can result from criminal identity theft.
Hackers, with their malicious intent, can steal personal data and threaten to reveal it unless a victim pays them. This can include private pictures, embarrassing stories, corporate secrets, health records, or any other sensitive information. In extreme cases, hackers have been known to intercept tax refunds or use stolen data to open bank accounts, max out credit limits, and disappear without paying.
In 2022, identity theft accounted for 1.2 billion GBP (1.5 billion USD) of the UK's fraud losses. To combat this, key strategies include using strong, unique passwords and password managers, enabling two-factor authentication, freezing credit reports, continuously monitoring for suspicious activity, encrypting sensitive data, automating enforcement of data loss prevention (DLP) policies, and implementing organizational DLP solutions.
For instance, using strong, unique passwords and password managers helps prevent easy access to accounts and avoids reusing passwords across services. Enabling two-factor authentication adds an extra verification step beyond passwords, significantly reducing unauthorized logins. Freezing credit reports with major credit bureaus stops anyone from opening new credit accounts in your name without permission.
Continuously monitoring and detecting abnormal data access or transfers using adaptive DLP programs that leverage threat intelligence and machine learning for early threat identification is crucial. Encrypting sensitive data both at rest and in transit ensures that intercepted or stolen data remains unreadable and unusable to attackers. Automating enforcement of DLP policies, such as blocking or quarantining sensitive data when violations are detected, helps protect personal data.
Regularly reviewing financial and online account statements helps catch unauthorized activity, with early detection being crucial to minimizing identity theft consequences. Implementing organizational DLP solutions that classify and control data flows across endpoints, networks, and cloud services helps prevent data breaches.
To protect themselves and their users, businesses can implement user verification to check the identities of new customers and filter out identity thieves. For example, Nicole Ortiz found her identity used to conduct rental scams, causing emotional distress and potential reputational damage.
Criminals also use stolen data to make payments for various goods and services, including restaurant bills and medical treatment. In some cases, hackers have stolen the confidential records of thousands of psychotherapy patients, demanding payment in bitcoin to prevent public disclosure.
Companies can suffer from identity theft, leading to the theft of their corporate identity for opening bank accounts, taking out loans, or even opening offices. In 2015, TalkTalk Telecom Group's customer data was hacked, and the hackers demanded 465 bitcoin to not sell the data and ruin the company's reputation.
Allison's identity was used to file a fraudulent tax return, resulting in a $4,000 refund and over $14,000 in additional costs for unpaid taxes, penalties, and interest. Companies can experience data breaches, resulting in the theft of their customers' personal data. Stolen data can be used to take out loans, resulting in victims having to repeatedly prove their innocence and damaging their credit history.
The advice from identity theft victims is that it's easier to protect personal data in the first place than to get it back. By implementing these strategies, individuals and businesses can create multiple layers of defense against identity theft and data breaches, securing personal and sensitive data from evolving cyber threats and insider risks.
Cybersecurity measures, such as using strong, unique passwords and password managers, are essential in protecting personal data from cyber threats and insider risks, as seen in Jack's case where he lost his wallet and ended up being sent bills for loans he never took out.
Employing technology like adaptive DLP programs that leverage threat intelligence and machine learning for early threat identification can help continuously monitor and detect abnormal data access or transfers, providing a crucial layer of protection against evolving cyber threats.
