Five worthy reads is a regular column on five noteworthy items we’ve discovered while researching trending and timeless topics. In this edition, we’ll learn about the worst data breaches that happened recently, their impact, and the cost of data breaches for companies.
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only had an impact on the mental and physical health of employees, but on the digital health of organizations around the world. After the pandemic struck, most organizations were forced to shift to a remote work environment using digital tools hosted in the cloud. This led to a drastic growth in digital transformation initiatives in organizations that were previously reluctant to change.
Many organizations weren’t prepared for such a sudden transition and weren’t equipped with the right tools to support these operations. Cybercriminals are well aware of this and are using this opportunity to breach into weaker systems with holes in security. They focus on using social engineering and will try any scheme they can come up with to make people open attachments, download apps, or enter credentials. These cyberattacks are most often the result of technological vulnerabilities and human error.
2020 witnessed some of the most devastating data breach incidents to date. Speaking of the impact of data breaches, do you know how much it can cost an organization to recover from one? When a data breach occurs, data is stolen in the form of records, which can be personal, professional, financial, or health records; these records can even contain intellectual property. These compromised records can cost an organization millions of dollars depending on the number of records stolen and their importance.
Other negative consequences of a data breach can be in the form of compensation for the victims, legal fees, or both. The company’s reputation will also take a hit, resulting in negative PR, loss of business, impacted stocks, and negative brand equity. In short, companies may lose both tangible and intangible assets.
Here are five interesting reads on data breaches that happened in 2020, their impact, and their costs.
1. The biggest hacks, data breaches of 2020Â
Once the pandemic hit, not only was there was an increase in cyberthreats, but new types of threats were emerging, primarily due to the shift to remote work. Take a closer look at the types of data breaches, hacks, and cyberthreats that emerged since the pandemic and their impact.
2. What is the cost of a data breach?
With the increase in the number of active data protection laws, companies need to know how much will a data breach will cost them. Learn about the types of attacks organizations faced in the past and their impacts. Assess how one of these attacks would impact your organization.
3. What does a data breach cost in 2020?
The cost of a data breach varies from industry to industry based on many factors, especially the regulations that each industry is facing. The stricter the regulations for the industry, the higher the cost of breach. Get an idea of the trends in data breach costs over the years and various other interesting related metrics.
4. Three biggest Factors in data breach costs and how to reduce themÂ
Read about the measures different organizations around the world have taken to reduce the costs of data breaches. These organizations focused on security automation and well-trained incident response capabilities for securing cloud environments.
5. When and how to report a breach: Data breach reporting best practices
When a data breach unfortunately has happened in your organization, there are many considerations you need to take. The first thing you should do is report it. Most CIOs and CISOs won’t know what to do after a data breach occurs. Learn the steps and procedures for reporting data breaches here.
All businesses that process data online are prone to data breaches. A data breach prevention plan is a must-have that can be implemented using tools for identity management, security information and event management, and endpoint management. Performing frequent security assessments and IT audits, patching fixes, and having a set of fixed guidelines forming your incident response plan will help minimize the loss of data. This will help ensure your business doesn’t experience the major impacts of a cyberattack.
