Today, there are four common causes of data breaches. These causes can be harmful to companies and individuals alike if they are not careful enough. What are these?
Four Common Causes of Data Breaches
When a data breach happens, companies are quick to find the cause of the breach and do everything they could to prevent the next one. Why? They are afraid of losing valuable customer data, which is sold on the black market for big money.
Here are the four common causes of data breaches:
Hackers
The first cause of data breaches is hackers. Though there are some new types of hackers out there, the most common one is the black hat hacker. A black hat hacker is a hacker who uses his skills to break into secured systems for personal gain or malicious purposes.
A black hat hacker’s main target is to hack into a system, steal sensitive data, and sell it on the black market for the money. The first thing that an organization should do after discovering that their system was hacked by a black hat hacker is to look for the root cause of the breach.
Malware
Malware also causes data breaches. They are usually found in spam email attachments or through infected website links. Malware includes computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware, and ransomware just to name a few.
How can this malware get into a system? Well, it can be through an email attachment if your company does not have a spam filter installed. Malware can also infect your system if you open a website that has an infected link. It is best to install antivirus software to protect your system from getting infected with malware.
Employee Activities
The cause of data breaches is sometimes due to monitoring employees’ activities without their knowledge. There are times when companies monitor their employees’ computers and emails without them knowing about it. This is called snooping and it is highly prohibited by most companies around the world.
If a company wants to monitor its employees, they must inform them about it first before they can proceed with the process. The company must also put up rules and regulations that employees need to follow. This is to avoid breaching any data confidentiality laws and regulations set by their local government and/or country.
Creating Weak Passwords
Creating weak passwords is another cause of data breaches. If you create passwords that are easy to guess or crack, then your company’s system is at risk of getting hacked by a black hat hacker or malware.
This is why you need to create passwords that are difficult for other people to guess or crack. You should use at least 15 characters long, containing letters, numbers, symbols, capitals, smalls, uppercase, lowercase, etc. The use of numbers should not start with 0 (zero) because hackers know it first when they try hacking passwords containing numbers.
Avoid These Four Common Causes of Data Breaches
So, if you want to avoid getting your data breached, then avoid doing these four common causes of data breaches. The best way to do so is to install antivirus software on your system for protection against malware.
