A data breach involves any unauthorized access to confidential, sensitive, or protected information, and it can happen to anyone.
Internationally well known companies such as Apple, Meta, Twitter, and Samsung have all disclosed cybersecurity attacks this year.
In the most recent quarter, CERT NZ responded to 2,001 incident reports about individuals and businesses from all over New Zealand.
In New Zealand Phishing and credential harvesting remains the most reported incident category (from CertNZ).
This graph shows the breakdown by incident category for the past quarter in New Zealand.
Australian telecoms company Optus – which has 9.7 million subscribers, suffered a “massive” data breach this year. According to reports, names, dates of birth, phone numbers, and email addresses may have been exposed, while a group of customers may have also had their physical addresses and documents like driving licenses and passport numbers accessed.
IBM found the cost of a breach hit a record high this year, at nearly $4.4 million.
Data breaches happen mainly when hackers can exploit user behaviour or technology vulnerabilities.
The threat surface continues to grow exponentially. We are increasingly reliant on digital tools such as smartphones and laptops. With the Internet of Things (IoT), we’re adding even more endpoints that unauthorized users can access.
Popular methods for executing malicious data breaches include:
Here are some key tips for mitigating risks to your business. If you require help with these, please reach out.
Data breaches cause business downtime and can cost your reputation and bottom line. Once you’ve had a data breach and it has been made public, your customers may lose faith in your ability to protect their private information.
A managed services provider can install protection and take precautions against data breaches. Contact our team here to discuss this further.