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The average total cost of a data breach is US$3.86 million, the USA being the most expensive country to such data breaches.
Negligence and mismanagement by enterprises often leads to the data breach. This is true for organizations whose primary intention is to deploy services that can benefit the customers. These organizations are data-intensive and accumulate personal data of the clients to continue operations. However, clumsiness in monitoring the data ensures big data breach, thus jeopardizing the reputation of the clients.
For example, a data breach in an insurance software company Vertafore led to the breach of personal information of 27.7 million Texas drivers. The incident which was revealed last week by Vertafore is said to take place between March 11 and August 1. Investigations so far revealed that the user data stored in an unsecured external storage service was accessed by an external party. The files which were breached contained information such as driver's license numbers, names, and dates of birth, addresses and vehicle registration histories. There has been no indication of misuse or abuse of data so far, though the investigations are still underway.
However, this is not the only incident of a data breach this year. A similar incident happened in Australia, where the information of thousands New South Wales driver's license holders was breached when a cloud storage folder containing more than 1 lakh client image was mistakenly left open.
Such incidents of a data breach are not only perilous for client's privacy but it becomes taxing for the organizations as well. According to a report by IBM, the average total cost of a data breach is US$3.86 million, with the USA being the most expensive country (US$8.64 million) and healthcare (US$7.13 million) being the most expensive sector exposed to such data breaches respectively. The report by IBM revealed that the average time to identify and contain such data breaches is 280 days.
Certainly, unlike past, organizations have become more vigilant to contain such data breaches. They are employing solutions such as upgrading passwords, constantly backing up data, training employees and instituting stricter data policies amongst others, to thwart a possible cyber attack, malware and ransomware. Since organizations have become more learned about the notorious implications of such data breaches, they are also constantly upgrading the cloud platforms, networks and data centres. Despite this, the data breach has become a pestering challenge disrupting the organizational workflow. That's why it becomes imperative for organizations to analyze and evaluate the cybersecurity strategy which is currently deployed.
With the vast data accumulated by organizations, many fail to realize the reason behind deploying cybersecurity tools, or the areas that should be prioritized to thwart malware and ransomware. By instituting cybersecurity tools such as antivirus software, in alignment to the existing data problems amongst different departments, will aid organizations to avoid such attacks. For example, management can carry out a survey regarding the primary intention of different departments while deploying cybersecurity solutions/tools. In case the departments majorly point out feeling burdened with bigdata from unidentified sources, the organizations can prioritize deploying cybersecurity tools in that particular area.
Hiring a cybersecurity specialist would further aid in solving the data breach problem. A cybersecurity specialist would relinquish chief technical officer from the additional load of monitoring and maintaining cybersecurity. Moreover, the experts will also strategically advice in substituting and initiating cybersecurity and data policies, which are contextually paramount for organizations.
Employees must not be confined to only training. They must also be consulted while deploying a cybersecurity tool. As employees are thorough about the need of different departments as compared to the management, their views regarding cybersecurity tools and policies will be paramount amongst varied departments.
The data that is collected, generated and shared is exponential. As this data is stored in the on-premise data centre with human intervention, the possibility of data breach increases. Henceforth, shifting to a lights-out data centre approach which employees automation and robotics, without human involvement, would aid in securing the humongous data already existing in organizations. Additionally, as the remote work is unprecedented, the data centre can be accessed from anywhere.
Undoubtedly, with COVID 19, the incidents of cyberattacks, data breaches, and malware have significantly expanded. As organizations work remotely, these solutions can be deployed and delivered remotely. Moreover, since many organizations are planning to adopt this new normal in the future, these solutions will also focus to contribute to bolstering the organizational workflow.
