In almost every facet of people’s lives, they are influenced by technology and information in each corner of society. With the advent of cloud hosting and sharing, data can easily be sent from one side of the planet to another in mere seconds. However, being a treasure trove of information that can lead to bank accounts, sensitive personal information, and other vital data, the Internet is also full of individuals who have the malicious intent of attaining this information for their own selfish needs.
Whether you’re in a company that’s storing terabytes of information on sensitive personal information of employees or a government entity that’s storing highly-sensitive military data, there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that data can yield a lot of power. With a press of a button, information can bring down companies and businesses.
Since most businesses use servers that are housed within company walls or cloud servers to safeguard large amounts of data, data breaches can be wholly prevented, right? That’s where you’re wrong. Data breaches happen all the time, even to sites and companies that have the most robust security. Before you know it, the hackers will have the data hostage with ransomware, and you’ll need to pay thousands of dollars to get it back. Nobody wants that to happen to their data.
But before discussing the different ways to counter data breaches and hacking incidents, let’s first take a look at the problem: what causes data breaches in the first place?
What Causes Data Breaches?
The last thing that IT professionals want is a data breach. Not only will it take days to weeks to backup terabytes of data to a more secure server, but the information gained by hackers can also spell the end to particular businesses.
Human Error
Often, anyone else other than the employees themselves can’t be blamed for certain slip-ups. Whether it’s leaking information to the public, rushed programming languages, or a poor user interface, there’s no doubt that data breaches usually stem from some form of error.
Employees are humans who still commit mistakes, and they tend to learn from their mistakes. Once they are aware of the clear and present threat that malicious ware poses to their company’s information, they can start taking drastic measures to counter it.
Incapable Cloud Servers
Most experts would say that data breaches usually stem from exposed databanks. In this case, cloud servers aren’t taking extra measures in protecting information and are just putting in the bare minimum when protecting information. It was reported last year that a particular company had a data breach, and hackers acquired the information of 100 million customers.
Insiders
While there might be some employees who did not mean any form of harm by leaking certain information to the public, there are also unauthorized ones who seek to gain something from maliciously hacking into secure databases. These insiders might have legitimate credentials to access the data or are accessing through different software.
Preventive Measures
Preventing a problem from happening is always a better choice than having to fix a problem that has caused damage. Here are various helpful ways to make your databases more secure.
Continuous Software Updates
Since hackers and malware are also evolving as time goes by, it’s only rational that companies also improve their information security through continuous updates. Making the system more aware of certain software breaches can reduce the risk of breaches. Use specific software, such as data protection applications for Office 365, to achieve better security measures.
Educating Employees
To mitigate any accidental human errors, we must educate our employees on how our information and data are necessary to the company’s future. Educate them; make them aware that disclosing information to the general public is usually the catalyst that leads to data breaches. Remind them that confidentiality should be practiced at all times.
Enforcing Strict Rules
Other than educating employees, strictly implementing rules and regulations will prevent individuals from disclosing sensitive information while also contributing to its maintenance. Particular companies have databases that will only be online and active at specific points of the day. The fact that the database can only be accessed at certain times can significantly decrease any chance of a breach. Additionally, IT experts can actively monitor databases during work hours.
Before you start thinking that your data is protected, you have to think twice about your situation. It’s quite common that software companies will assure their customers that their products are secure and protected. But we have to ask ourselves: Is this software protected? In the case of office applications, can it stand against an ever-evolving software industry? You can’t fully guarantee your data’s safety, but you can ensure that specific software and measures can enhance data protection.