SpartanTec, Inc. Wilmington: How Does A Data Breach Happen?

A data breach is more than just a temporary terror. It could change your life significantly. Individuals, governments, and businesses alike could experience major complications from having their data exposed. If you are online or offline, hackers can still get to you through text messages, Bluetooth, internet, and other online devices that you are using.

If you don’t pay attention to detail, a minor vulnerability could easily lead to a significant data breach. Because many people don’t know how common these modern threats are, they do not pay that much attention to it. Read on if you want to learn more.

What is a data breach?

A data breach will expose protected, sensitive, and confidential data to unauthorized individuals. The files affected by a data breach are shared and/or viewed without the owner’s permission.

Anybody could be at risk of a data breach from high level enterprises to individuals to governments. Aside from that, anybody could put others at risk when they are not protected.

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Generally speaking, data breaches happen because of weaknesses in the user’s behaviour and technology. As our mobile devices and computers have more connective issues, there are many places where data will slip through. New technologies are being developed faster than they can be protected. Devices within the IoT sector provide proof that people are valuing convenience more than data security. A lot of smart home products have many flaws such as lack of encryption and hackers are making the most out of it.

However, even when the backend technology has been set up appropriately, there are users that have poor digital habits. All it needs is a single individual to compromise a network or website. Without a comprehensive cybersecurity plan in place at both the enterprise and user levels, you’re sure to be at risk. Protect others and yourself by knowing and understanding how data breaches take place.

How does a data breach happen?

It’s not always true that a data breach is caused by an outside hacker. There are many reasons why a data breach takes place. It could just easily be due to a basic oversight by someone or flaws in the infrastructure of a system.

Here’s how a data breach can happen:

It can be due to an accidental insider who could be an employee who is using the computer of a co-worker and reading their files without permission or proper authorization. No information is shared and the access is unintentional. However, the data is still considered as breached because it was viewed without authorization.

Another cause is a malicious insider who intentionally accesses or/and shares the data with the intention of causing harm to a company or individual. The malicious insider may be authorized to use the information but has a bad intention for the use of the information.

Stolen or lost devices is another way a data breach can happen. An unlocked or unencrypted external hardrive or laptop or anything that has sensitive information is lost or missing.

Malicious outside criminals are hackers who are using different kinds of attack vectors to get information from a person or individual.