In this year alone, data breaches are occurring at such frequency that it’s now become almost commonplace. When we hear it in the news, we simply shrug our shoulders and say, “Oh great, another one.”
The fact that it happens so often should not soften the severity of it. If anything, it should raise our state of alarm even higher. The problem is, we’ve become so fatigued by alarm. How do you remain vigilant despite this fatigue?
Recognizing the Risks a Data Breach Poses to Individuals
Privacy is one of the top concerns for Americans right now, and with very good reason. It appears every week some major headline breaks out about how our personal data has been leaked from database XYZ and possibly made available to anyone with internet access. Names, addresses, telephone numbers, Social Security numbers and credit card numbers are all up for grabs by anyone willing to spend some Bitcoin on the dark web. It’s gotten to the point where we acknowledge the risk every time we make a purchase — not just online, but also offline, at normal stores. This level of insecurity and wariness isn’t sustainable from either an individual or a business standpoint.
Recognizing the Risks a Data Breach Poses to Your Business
Regardless of what your business is, one way or another your company or organization is linked to consumers. No matter how far separated you are from those consumers, their livelihoods and their trust in you will affect your bottom line, either directly or indirectly.
Even if for some unfathomable reason their wellbeing isn’t something you’re concerned about, you should at least be concerned about the very real threat of liability. The healthcare industry for example, is required to follow a very strict set of rules known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA. In a nutshell, it’s a complex list of procedures designed to keep patient data safe. Not everyone follows the rules however, and when that happens, not only do patients suffer, but companies and employees are severely penalized. Your business could potentially be held liable in much the same way.
But beyond simple legal liability, it’s about trust. There is always huge backlash that accompanies data breaches, and you want your organization to maintain its integrity and save its reputation.
Recognizing the Risks a Data Breach Poses to the Country
We’ve been attacked more than once over the years. One such example was when the Office of Personnel Management — the administrative and human resources department for U.S. government employees — was hacked not once, but twice. The department manages security clearances, conducts background checks and keeps records on every past and present federal employee.
From Wired: “If you want to know what’s going on inside the U.S. government, this is the department to hack.” So, China did.
The first hack was in 2013, and then again in 2015. Tens of millions of detailed records about every aspect of federal employees’ lives were stolen, including 21.5 million Social Security numbers and 5.6 million fingerprint records. In some cases, victims weren’t even federal employees, but were simply connected in some way to government workers who had undergone background checks. Those checks include all sorts of extremely specific information, like outlines of the worker’s family, friends, associates and children.
So, yes. You may be tired of hearing the alarm sirens every single time another data breach comes to light, but there are darn good reasons for those sirens to be blaring. Don’t give in to the desensitization. Stay vigilant, because it’s not a case of the boy who cried wolf. The threats are real, and we’re already being affected by them.
Since 1995, Manassas Park, VA-based V2 Systems has employed local systems administrators, network engineers, security consultants, help desk technicians and partnering companies to meet a wide range of clients’ IT needs, from research, to implementation, to maintenance. Concentrate on your VISION…We’ll handle the TECHNOLOGY!