Ghosts, goblins and ghouls – October is a scary time of year! But a data breach is a scary threat all year long. If an organization’s electronically stored data is compromised, the impacts can be devastating. Given these risks, protecting electronically stored data is essential not just to avoid breaches but to ensure the business’s long-term stability, competitiveness, and reputation.
Financial Loss & Cost of Recovery
Data breaches lead to significant direct financial costs, such as legal fees, penalties, and compensation to affected customers. For instance, regulations like the European Union law General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which protects the privacy and security of personal data or the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) impose heavy penalties on organizations that fail to protect sensitive information. This can can amount to millions of dollars.
Damage to Reputation
A breach undermines trust, which can drive away customers and partners who rely on the business for secure transactions and data handling. Customers who feel their personal or financial information is unsafe are likely to turn to competitors, leading to long-term loss in customer loyalty and market share.
Operational Disruption
Cyberattacks often result in halted operations as the company assesses the breach and works to resolve it. During this time, business processes may be interrupted, resulting in lost revenue and productivity, especially if critical systems or customer services are affected.
Legal Consequences
When customer or employee information is exposed, companies may face class-action lawsuits, especially if sensitive information like social security numbers, health records, or payment details are involved. Legal battles can last for years, draining resources and taking attention away from business growth.
Competitive Disadvantage
A compromise of trade secrets or intellectual property can give competitors an unfair advantage.
Impact on Data Integrity
When data is compromised, it’s not only about confidentiality but also about the integrity of information. Hackers may alter records, leading to corrupted databases, erroneous customer information, and financial miscalculations. This can undermine business decisions and complicate audits.
Scam Vulnerabilities and Identity Theft Risks
Following a breach, scammers often target individuals by posing as representatives of the breached organization, attempting to get victims to disclose sensitive information. Scams and identity theft are increasing in frequency, with tax, medical, and child identity theft becoming prevalent. To prevent this, destroy the data on hard drives, solid state drives and storage media like SIM cards and thumb drives. They can hold vast amounts of sensitive information. Commercial hard drives can store up to 7.8 terabytes, which equals about 117,000 cases of paper! Permanently destroy data from hard drives and all devices containing corporate information.
To find out more about how to protect your individual privacy, or if you think you’ve been scammed, contact the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) or the Federal Trade Commission at www.IdentityTheft.gov which outlines the steps need to report and recover.
4 Ways to Ensure Information Security in Your Workplace
Make Data Security a Top Concern
Implement policies that make security a daily priority, providing training to educate employees about best practices and keeping data security top of mind.
Keep Physical Information Secure
Limit access to sensitive data to only necessary personnel, maintaining logs of who accessed the information and when.
Destroy Hard Drives and Other Data-Containing Devices
Permanently erase data on hard drives, SIM cards, thumb drives, and old devices. This guarantees that sensitive data doesn’t end up in the wrong hands.
Bring in a Professional
If your company needs to meet compliance standards, work with a professional Information Technology Asset Disposal firm for secure data destruction and environmentally sound disposal of your end of life data storage devices. Firms like Electronics Value Recovery, Inc. provide certificates of destruction and recycling reports, which provide a chain of custody and proof of regulatory compliance.
In short, protecting electronically stored data from a data breach isn’t just a regulatory requirement. It’s essential for preserving trust, reducing operational risks, and avoiding substantial financial loss. By following these best practices, your organization can reduce the chances of a costly data breach and protect its most valuable assets.