The internet has become one of the most valuable tools for information. You can find almost anything you want in a few seconds, and usually, the costs are insignificant. But you’re not always aware that this information comes at a cost more important than money: your data.
Have you ever wondered how you get so many advertisements about the products you want or how are some recommendations relevant to you at all times? In this article, you’ll find out about data breaches or what happens when your information is exposed without your consent.
How do you recognise a data breach?
A data breach is a disclosure of confidential information to an unauthorised entity. That means that your data is being viewed/shared without permission. Data can be anything, from your phone number, home address and vehicle registration number to personal photos and login passwords.
Another form of a data breach is a cyberattack, which is made to gain something from you. Usually, businesses are more prone to cyberattacks because their information might benefit competitors. Fortunately, cyber insurance can protect companies from any network risks. Cyberattacks are more complicated, but if you want to avoid a data breach in your system, you should look for these signs:
- Suspicious history activity (login attempts that you don’t remember or unusual file transfers)
- Sudden changes to your accounts or passwords
- Transactions or bank activities that you haven’t approved of
- Slow internet connection (especially if you usually have a good one)
- Your anti-virus tool constantly giving alerts and warning you about a possible virus
Causes and effects of a data breach
Data breaches can occur for many reasons and situations, but the most common are because of:
- An accident (when the access of information is unintentional and the data has not been shared but has been viewed by an unauthorised person)
- A malicious intruder (when the access of unauthorised information is done with purpose)
- A lost or stolen device
- Hackers (a more advanced way to breach data made from a network or an individual)
Therefore, these leakages have a strong impact on the ones being attacked. For example, suppose you have a business and your information has been leaked. In that case, you might face a loss of sales (because customers lose their trust) and even lose your company’s attractiveness regarding new employees.
After the data breach, the best you can do is to file a claim from which you’ll get compensation for any financial losses or any emotional distress you experienced. You can even sue a company if it’s proved that it sold your data to use it in a harmful manner.
Prevention
What can you do to prevent a data breach from happening to you? First of all, change your passwords more often. And don’t use the same passwords on more than one account; try making them as complicated as possible, and if you worry about forgetting them, a password manager should help you.
Additionally, you shouldn’t share your personal information with everyone and don’t keep it in a place where you know someone can get to easily. Update and upgrade your devices any time possible because old devices are more likely to have poor protection systems incorporated. Use multi-factor authentication; you’ll be notified when someone is trying to get into your device. Optionally, choose not to share much about yourself on social platforms.
Who is more vulnerable to data breaches?
There are four types of data breaches, and each one of them has its target victims:
- Phishing and whaling (via email campaigns made to trick people into downloading malware. The target consists of individuals and executives or high-value assets)
- Ransomware and worms (attacking computers across networks; their target consists of any business)
- Remote desktop protocol (remotely connecting to users’ computers; dangerous for businesses)
- Public WIFI (anyone can be vulnerable when using public networks)
It would be best if you were careful which sites you are visiting because a single click on a suspicious link can lead to the infection of the drivers on your computer. If you’re an employee, the risk is even higher because you might infect all company’s devices by opening an email from your spam folder.
Reports show that most of the breachers were financially motivated to commit a data breach; this is why small businesses are the most vulnerable companies because they don’t have a strong protection system.
Data Protection Act and GDPR
The Data Protection Act was applied in 2018 regarding how your personal information is used by organisations or even the government. Under this act, you have the right to find out what information about you has been stored. You also have the right for your data to be erased. There are eight principles at the base of the act:
- Lawfulness, fairness, transparency
- Purpose limitation (the purposes for which your information is collected have to be specified, explicit and legitimate)
- Data minimisation (limited to what is necessary)
- Accuracy (kept up to date)
- Storage limitation (the information shouldn’t be kept more than it’s required)
- Integrity and confidentiality (protection against unauthorised processing)
- Accountability
GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is a legal framework that limits the use and process of your personal information. Under this regulation, every site should notify you that your information is used for their specific purpose, and you can choose between accepting it or not. How is GDPR helpful in data breaches? It increases trust and credibility and provides a better understanding of the collected data. Besides usefulness, GDPR also provides rights for the individuals to:
- be informed
- have access
- rectification
- erasure
- restrict processing
- data portability
- object
- have an automated decision-making process
On a final note, the best solution to avoid breaches is to be constantly updated on new technology characteristics, recent malware news and be careful with the information you’re sharing on the internet. Even if it seems safe, it would be best for you to adapt to new safety systems because there’s always something more behind what’s displayed to us.
