Don't Fall Victim to Data Breaches: How to Protect Business Data

Data is today's hottest commodity. It's a data-driven world where what you watch, read, or consume on the internet is fed into algorithms that make predictions based on your previous actions. Your browsing habits form the basis of your user experience. That's just on the individual level.

On the broader scale of things, you have companies and enterprises that deal with data. This business data can be a massive collection of information related to the day-to-day conduct of business involving suppliers, employees, customers, and other parties.

Surely, this company data is for authorized access only and not for public disclosure. You can imagine the risks to the tune of millions, if not billions, of dollars of trade secrets, client lists, and customers' personally identifiable information were to fall into the wrong hands.

Putting Numbers to Cyberattacks

• In the first half of 2019, 3,800 data breaches occurred and exposed 4.1 billion records, according to consumer cyber safety company Norton. The breaches, which were reported, affected companies in the financial, entertainment, and health-care sectors, as well as schools and government agencies.
• Nine months in 2019 and Risk Based Security reported 5,183 data breaches that involved 7.9 billion records. The cybersecurity firm noted an increase in the relevant period's breaches (up 33.3 percent) and records exposed (up 112 percent) versus those of the midyear of 2018.
• As of December 2019, Zynga topped the year's most significant breaches when a hacker accessed 218 million records. Customer log-ins, phone numbers, and email addresses were among customer information hacked, according to CNBC.com.

How to Protect Your Business Data

Against this backdrop, organizations of any size, form, or nature have to brace themselves for cyberthreats anytime. Protect your business from malicious activities in 2020 with these measures for cloud and on-premise data.

Remember, no one is safe from a data breach, and the attack can come from all sides. It's a reality of doing business nowadays, dealing with something as precious as data. Lawsuits, loss of customer trust, and the like can cause irreparable damage to companies that suffered the attack.

With the brand's reputation and customer trust on the line, data security is one of the most critical business decisions to make right now.

References ▼

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