Data Breach: The Signs and How To Protect Yourself

A data breach is one of the worst things that could happen to your business. The most soul-destroying thing about them is your years of hard work protecting the data could be taken away from your business within seconds.

Many cybersecurity tools can fend off many cyber attacks, but hackers are skilled at breaking into systems without being detected. With a solid IT support company, you can be protected against most types of attacks, and one crucial thing to know is that if this circumstance was to happen, how you would recognise the warning signs that your systems have been breached.

In this Bandicoot blog, we have discussed all things data breach: the signs, and how to protect yourself from a cyber attack.

What Is A Data Breach?

A data breach is any incident that results in unauthorised to your data, applications, networks, or devices, so to summarise, it’s a cybercriminal accessing your data without your permission.

No company is discriminated against in these types of acts, whether you’re a small, medium, or large enterprise if your walls, so to speak, can be broken the cybercriminal will act upon it. The effects brought on by a data breach can come in the form of damage to the company’s reputation due to a perceived ‘betrayal of trust.’

A popular data breach you may be aware of was Facebook back in 2018. Facebook saw internal software flaws lead to the loss of 29 million users’ personal data. This was a particularly embarrassing security breach since the compromised accounts included that of company CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

What Are The Signs Of A Data Breach?

It is crucial to recognise the signs of a data breach. Here are some signs:

Sudden File Changes – A hacker wants to be unnoticed, but their aim is to gather information. If you notice any sudden changes to critical files this could ring some alarm bells. If you aren’t proactively monitoring changes, someone could breach your data without your attention.

Locked Accounts – Being locked out of one’s accounts could be the result of a successful phishing scam, whereby a hacker has obtained – and changed – a user’s login credentials. Utilising multifactored authentication is one of the best ways to prevent being locked out of an account. A defence system requiring user validation creates an additional layer of security and minimises this situation.

Unusual Slow Devices/Internet – This can indicate onboard malware or viruses or suspicious outbound traffic. Users should never assume this behaviour is normal, report devices running slowly, which certainly bear investigation.

How To Report A Data Breach

Reporting a data breach depends heavily on where your business and your customers are located, however, regardless of which country you live in, it is important to quickly report a data breach, no matter how small. Failure to do so may not only result in fines and punishments but will also cause you to lose the trust of your customers.

In the United Kingdom, thanks to GDPR, data breaches need to be reported within 72 hours to the Information Commissioner’s Office. Additionally, it is necessary to inform anyone who may have had their data compromised as a result of the breach.

Protect Yourself With IT Support Services

Data breaches are often misunderstood to be technical, but most common data breaches come from a lack of awareness.

Cyber security is not only about your website (What to do and what not to do, how to update and patch the vulnerabilities) but also everything that is happening all over the web.

We would recommend you educate and enforce. Inform your employees about the threats, train them to watch out for cybercriminal tactics, and introduce guidelines on how to handle a threat if encountered.

If you want to take the responsibility off your hands, we can help you!

Bandicoot: Contact Us

Here at Bandicoot, we offer a variety of IT Support packages. The options vary depending on the needs of your business. You’ll never have to worry about your IT again because we have you covered!

Take your first step towards protecting your stakeholders. Contact Bandicoot today, to figure out which IT Support package is best suited to your business. You can call us on 01282 506 616 or email us directly at info@bandicoot.co.uk.

We look forward to hearing from you!