Security Breaches Are Unavoidable

Posted on October 13th 2017

More data was lost or stolen in the first half of 2017 than all of 2016, according to a recent report by international digital security company Gemalto.

In total, 1.9 billion records were compromised as of the end of June 2017, compared to 1.37 billion in 2016.

The rise in data breaches was already clear last year, but 2017’s figures have seen an even greater rise with identity theft accounting for three quarters of all data breaches recorded in 2017.

The UK had the second highest number of reported incidents (40) after the USA, leading Europe, where just two were reported in the Netherlands and Malta, with Austria, the Czech Republic, Italy, Lithuania, and Norway reporting just one leak each.

This is indicative of the rise in the frequency, scope and sophistication of cyber-attacks. As Gemalto writes, “More and more organisations are accepting the fact that, despite their best efforts, security breaches are unavoidable.”

An area where organisations need to improve is in accidental loss. Although this category only accounted for 166 incidents (18%), it was the cause of 86% of all breached records.

One way to mitigate accidental loss of data can be achieved through regular user training throughout the company. It’s vital the training is then reinforced by policies so users can continue to refer back to the guidelines if they have any queries.

Tim Hall, Chief Technology Officer at BCN Group, said, ‘‘Individuals and companies are urged to expand focus from breach prevention to include encryption of all data, so that in the event of a breach, stolen information is much harder to access by criminals. Here at BCN Group we recommend a multi-layer approach, starting with device encryption, through to modern firewalling and two factor authentication. By implementing these, it means you are taking all possible measures to help prevent attacks from happening in the first place.”

IT Security Training

Organisations can help mitigate the risk of accidental data loss and implement a security aware culture throughout their business with BCN Group’s IT Security Training.

You can invest all the time and money in the world into technologically protecting your company from security breaches but without educating your employees, your efforts are wasted.

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