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What Most Often Leads to a Data Breach?

Data breaches are no joke. Let’s explore some of the many causes that could leave your business vulnerable.

Data breaches—any event where a business’ confidential data is viewed, copied, or stolen by an unauthorized person or party—are a serious problem. Unfortunately, they are also a serious problem that can be caused by no shortage of situations. Let’s review some of the causes of business data breaches so you’ll know what to keep an eye out for.

Software Vulnerabilities

Software flaws can be exploited by hackers in various ways. Improper coding, neglect, or misconfiguration can pose security risks. To stay secure, use IT-approved and regularly updated software.

Insufficient Passwords

It is crucial that everyone in your organization is using sufficiently secure passwords. This means that if one of your passwords is easily undermined then your entire organization is as well.

If you’re concerned about your team having difficulty keeping track of all these passwords and/or passphrases, implementing a password management system is a secure and efficient option that we can help you execute.

Social Engineering

Let me ask you something—what would your response be if I were to reach out to you and request some of your data, or ask to have a password updated? I should hope that your first instinct would be to say no until you confirm that the request is legitimate and aboveboard.

Cybercriminals don’t always rely on fancy malware. They target employees directly. Ensure your team recognizes and defends against this threat.

Let me ask you one more thing: does every member of your crew need the same access to the same resources in order to do their jobs? Of course not—in fact, there are more examples where the exact opposite is the case. Your support team doesn’t need access to the rest of the team’s time off requests, and your sales team doesn’t need access to the entire business’ budget. Locking down access permissions on a need-to-know basis will help to eliminate the risk of a data leak. On the subject…

Malicious Insiders

Not all data breaches are sourced from outside your business. Insider threats come in all shapes and forms – revenge-seeking employees, unethical actors, rivals’ plants, or data thieves. Restricting permissions to those who actively need them helps take some of the teeth out of an insider attack.

Malware

There are so many different forms of malware out there, and it doesn’t help that it only takes one to potentially bring your network to its needs and abscond with your data. What’s worse, these threats have no shortage of means to get onto your infrastructure. From downloaded attachments to public Wi-Fi connections to infected USB devices to so many more opportunities, malware can get into an unprotected network and deliver its payload. This means that you need to keep your network locked down—something we can assist with as well.

Turn to Us for Assistance in Securing Your Data

We have plenty of experience in evaluating your IT and improving the security of your network. Interested in learning more? Give us a call at 860.251.8003.

VISTECH is here to help you make the most of all of your technology, productively and securely. Give us a call at 860.251.8003 to learn more about what we can do.

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