How Data Breaches Happen

Data Breaches: How They Happen And How To Stop Them

In recent years, the internet and vast information systems networks have experienced many data leaks. Despite constant advancements in communication and the quality of online products and services, cybercriminals keep finding new ways to breach digital security systems.

As the dependency on digital services grows, their databases become filled with sensitive data. This grants the necessary incentive and extra motivation for cybercriminals that want to profit from private information.

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This article will cover the most infamous data breaches in recent years, how and why these cybercrimes happen, and what you can do to protect your company or a private network. For example, we will gloss over data center proxies – intermediary servers that can filter incoming traffic or mask connections with the company's IP address.

 For more information on datacenter proxies and other tools like these, check out the information below.

Most Recent Database Leaks

We can discover the most common problems and strange outliers that led to massive private data exposure by analyzing the most recent information leaks. For the latter case, we have an exposure of 7.5 million Adobe accounts in 2019. The company used actual user data with all sensitive data points in a test environment database that could be accessed without authentication. Although the company resolved the issue on the same day, the sloppiness of Adobe gave cybercriminals a lot of valuable data.

Due to over-modernization, we have an incident with Mercedes-Benz apps exposing clients' private information and vehicle access due to an app glitch. Due to the disturbance, users could not see the information about their car on the app. Instead, it displayed the data about another driver and their vehicle.

If a cybercriminal gets their hand on this data, the consequences can be massive, as it is an unusual information leak. Not only did the app user know the credentials and private data of the real driver, but it also displayed the engine controls, access to the car, and its most recent location. A cybercriminal could have used this data to locate the care that is not theirs.

Last but not least, the data breach of Capital One Bank resulted in the devastating exposure of bank data for over 100 million customers. Their accounts carried sensitive information like social security numbers, home addresses, credit scores, and thousands of bank account numbers.

One breach that cost the company over 100 million dollars in expenses plus a tarnished reputation shows that modern companies must employ tech-savvy employees that take care of robust cybersecurity measures. While the necessity for extra safety also depends on the business model, most large companies take action to create the most secure systems with well-guarded databases.

Why Do Database Breaches Happen?

While the most shocking and damaging leaks make the headlines, the biggest slice of cybercrimes falls under the radar. Most common breaches involve small companies, often old businesses trying to modernize and attract a more extensive client base. While the attempts to keep up with the times yield results in outreach and marketing, a lack of experience leads to poor investments in cybersecurity.

Aside from abnormalities, the little guys – small companies get bullied by cybercriminals that leak and sell their data for profit. Even with a client setup with a newly hired tech-savvy staff or exceptional work from partners, these businesses often have older employees that use unprotected connections or fall into phishing scams and end up inviting criminals with open arms.

Another issue involves well-rounded companies that experience unprecedented growth and must expand fast. New servers, websites, and interconnected systems bring much more complexity into the company's digital property, leading to more vulnerabilities.

How To Prevent Data Breaches And Maintain Privacy

Here we will discuss how you can prevent data leaks – the exposure of your personal account or protecting the entire database for your company. There is no better start for individuals than to secure their profiles with robust and unique passwords.

Many internet users get their data leaked simply because they use the most common yet memorable passwords that can be guessed or discovered with brute force attacks. To be safe, pair your profiles with two-factor authentication to ensure only you can access the account.

As for the workforce interacting with your company network, everyone must receive sufficient hours of training to learn to avoid email phishing and other scams that create vulnerabilities leading to data breaches. Any unknown messages that use deliberate misspelling in brand names, encouragement to share information or take any urgent action, and, worst of all – clicks on dangerous links are all big no-no's that every worker should know.

Alongside good browsing and work habits, we encourage using VPNs or proxy servers to communicate with the rest of the internet and never expose the main company address. If the public IP gets leaked, even the pettiest cybercriminals can use DDoS attacks to slow down or crash your servers. Keeping the main address secure with proxies or VPNs will prevent dangerous leaks in the future, making sure that hackers have nothing to work with when planning a data breach or a different attack.

Understanding data breaches, both common cases and abnormalities, provides enough knowledge for businesses and individuals to take action and minimize their occurrences in the future. Use these powerful tips to make sure your digital data stays private.

How To Report Suspicious Activity

Let your close family and online friends know about this article. Feel free to share the page if it was helpful. Meanwhile, you can report any suspicious activity to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) using the portal below:

Report To The FTC Here

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Meanwhile, feel free to educate yourself with some other Amazon fraud-related articles. They are listed under this paragraph, so that you know more about online security. Last but not least, if you have any bad experiences, make sure to use the comments section below to expose other scammers.

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