3 Common Causes of Data Breaches (And How to Avoid Them)

Data breaches are no joke, and they can be so severe that businesses have a hard time bouncing back. Despite the danger, you can somewhat predict when you are at risk of a data breach, and certain actions can be taken to keep them from being fatal (or prevent them entirely). Today, we want to examine three of the common ways data breaches happen and what you can do about them.

Vulnerabilities in Your Outdated Tech

While your older technology is bound to affect the way your team gets work done, it will undoubtedly create more opportunities for data breaches on your network.

Your business’ software is bound to go through several iterations over the course of its lifetime, receiving patches and updates to keep ahead of cyberthreats. So what happens when these patches and updates aren’t applied? It’s simple: vulnerabilities appear, whether the developer knows about them or not, and if they aren’t resolved, hackers can use them as backdoors to infiltrate your network.

This is why it’s so important to be on top of patches and updates; they’re the first line of defense against data breaches.

Cyberattacks from Phishing and Social Engineering Attempts

If hackers don’t have vulnerabilities to use, they’ll simply make them by targeting the people behind your business: its users.

Phishing and social engineering are responsible for the majority of cyberattacks, and they range in scale and complexity. Whether it’s an email from “tech support,” a fake website for harvesting credentials, or even a hacker spoofing your boss’ email address, these attacks are designed to be as believable as possible. Any employee, even the most vigilant ones, isn’t impervious to mistakes, so it helps to emphasize the importance of paying attention and exercising caution, even if it’s not necessarily warranted.

This is where training comes in; since threats are constantly evolving and growing more sophisticated, it’s important that you’re also training your team on how to identify and respond to them.

Poor Data Management and General Negligence

All that said, there needs to be an understanding of how to manage data so as to keep it out of harm’s way; this goes for both the individual and the organization as a whole.

For example, some data—such as account numbers, personally identifiable information, or employee health insurance records—should absolutely not be accessible to anyone. Similarly, you want your business’ data to be stored in a centralized location where you can control and revoke access on an as-needed basis. Finally, you want your team to respect that data could be targeted by hackers at all times and to treat it with the sensitivity it deserves; negligence is no excuse for data mismanagement, especially when it comes to your customers’ data.

Data management is everyone’s responsibility, so make sure everyone—including management—is on board.

If you want your business to thrive, you can’t be worried about network security. Outsource that responsibility to Preferred. You’ll be glad you did. Give us a call at 708-781-7110 to learn more.