ll LinkedIn Articles are posted by Victor J. Quinones, Jr., CEO, Chairman, and Co-Founder at Virtual-Q. Original article posted here.
According to IBM, In 2021, the average cost of a data breach in the United States was $4.24 million.
Businesses lose significant revenue when unauthorized users steal their data. Staying informed about data breaches will help prevent data breaches within your company.
What Is a Data Breach?
A data breach is when cybercriminals access your data without authorization.
Hackers target sensitive data like credit card information, business practices, and customer data. Breaches typically occur when there are holes in your cybersecurity system, but even highly secure corporations have experienced data breaches.
Data breaches result from:
- Malware or ransomware attacks
- Card fraud
- Insider leaks
- Theft
Most Common Data Breaches
If your business stores customer information, you must protect and encrypt that data—it’s the number one target for cybercriminals. Customer data breaches make up 80% of all breaches worldwide.
Other common targets are:
- Intellectual property and ideas: 32% of data breaches
- Corporate data: 23% of data breaches
- Employee personal information: 21% of data breaches
- Anonymous customer or employee data: 24% of data breaches
Data Breaches in 2021
In 2021, there were several significant data breaches in the corporate world that ended up costing millions of dollars.
Colonial Pipeline
The Colonial Pipeline data breach of 2021 was the largest cyber attack on the oil industry in U.S. history.
Hackers stole nearly 100 GB of data, and the company paid them $5 million to get the information back. Even giant corporations with high levels of cybersecurity are at risk for data breaches.
In April of 2021, hackers obtained the data of 533 million Facebook users. The cyber criminals stole phone numbers, locations, full names, email addresses, and dates of birth from these users.
Though Facebook invests millions of dollars in cybersecurity, hackers can still access vulnerable points in their network.
Small and Medium Businesses
Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are one of the top targets for data breaches. According to Verizon, nearly 43% of all data breaches involve SMBs.
In 2021, the average cost of data breaches for businesses with less than 500 employees is almost $3 million, according to IBM, which is a large amount of money for SMBs. What’s unfortunate about SMBs being a popular target for hackers is that 83% of these businesses don’t have the funds to handle data breaches, according to Insurance Bee.
Effects of Data Breaches
Data breaches are stressful for any business, but what happens once you get your information back from hackers?
Data breaches have long-term effects, including:
Loss of Customer Trust
Even though data breaches happen against a company’s will, the company still gets blamed for the incident. Customers lose trust in a corporation when it experiences a data breach because personal information is the number one target of cybercriminals.
If unauthorized users stole your data during the Facebook data breach, would you still feel comfortable putting your personal information on Facebook?
Customers want to trust you, but that’s hard to do when hackers steal your data—even if it’s not your fault.
Loss of Important Information
After a data breach, many businesses get their information back from cybercriminals. But there are instances where hackers refuse to give the information back even if they’ve received their ransom.
You could lose your data forever if you don’t have it backed up on a cloud or hard drive.
How Can I Protect My Company From Data Breaches?
If you want to prevent data breaches, you need the best cybersecurity available. Virtual-Q provides high-quality cybersecurity for small and large businesses alike. Our services include:
- Secure remote desktops
- Data center and cloud solutions
- Disaster recovery plans
- Intrusion detection and prevention
- Business continuity
- SMB data protection
All of these services aid in the prevention of data breaches. Contact a Virtual-Q expert today to protect your company.
