What is a data breach and how can you prevent it?

Cybercrime is a major concern for businesses across all industries, but increasing your understanding on the subject can give you a better chance of avoiding an attack

Technology is vital to almost all businesses these days. Companies across all industries rely on the internet for storing valuable data, be it personal, financial or otherwise. However, with a rise in tech comes a rise in cybercrime, and data breaches are a threat facing all businesses.

But what exactly is a data breach, and what can you do to lessen your chances of falling victim? We’re here to help, so let’s take a look.

What is a data breach?

A data breach, as the name suggests refers to data being stolen or compromised by hackers. This data is often being held by a business, and will most likely be personal, confidential or sensitive in nature. It could be financial details, it could be customer email addresses or home addresses, it could be a set of passwords or something else entirely. More often than not, a data breach leads to significant consequences for a business. It can cost a company dearly in terms of time, money and reputation.

When the violation of data security poses a risk to the affected people, such as employees or customers, they should be informed.

Data breaches in numbers

Data breaches are often more common and more damaging than you might think, and here are some figures to prove it.

89% of data breaches are an outside or external attack. What’s more, half of cyberattacks target small and medium companies, so don’t assume you’re too small to attract a hacker’s attention.

It only takes 5 minutes to hack an IoS device, and nine out of 10 attacks start through emails.

By the end of 2024, it is estimated that the cybersecurity market will have reached a staggering $300 billion.

How do you prevent a data breach?

It’s clear that a data breach can spell disaster for small and large businesses alike. Thankfully, there is plenty you can do to both reduce your chances of falling victim to a cyberattack, and to lessen the damage should an incident occur. Here are some of our top tips.

Be smart about downloads

Links are one of the most common ways of introducing malware into your PC or network. You or a team member might receive an email which seems innocent enough, but contains a link which you then press. This can lead you to a dangerous website which will attempt to gather information.

Similarly, the email may include a download link which actually contains malware. To stay safe, try to avoid downloading anything that hasn’t come from a contact you recognise.

Perform regular vulnerability assessments

Testing the vulnerability of your cybersecurity will help you identify any weak spots before an incident occurs, not after. This gives you a chance to strengthen these areas so that a cybercrime is less likely to hit.

Seek out expert guidance

IT experts like the team at Syntax IT Support can help you understand more about your IT security, offering advice and guidance as well as delivering services which can significantly boost your business’s safety.

Back-up a lot

Make sure you back-up your data using the cloud. This will give you peace of mind that, if a computer is affected by a cyberattack, the documents held on that system have not been lost.

Carry out regular training

It’s all well-and-good you knowing about cybersecurity, but you need to share your knowledge with the rest of your team. Make sure you take your employees through the importance of cyber safety so that they are less likely to make a preventable error.

Cybercrime is a major concern for businesses across all industries, but increasing your understanding on the subject can give you a better chance of avoiding an attack