The ability to secure and protect data is crucial to the success of your organization. A single data breach can lead to significant financial losses, regulatory penalties, and a lasting impact on customer trust. The good news? With the right data breach avoidance strategies, you can drastically reduce your risk.
In the first half of 2020 alone, cybercriminals exposed over 16 billion records. No industry or organization size is immune. From phishing attacks to poor access controls amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the causes of data breaches vary but most are preventable with the right precautions.
Did You Know? Human error contributed to 95% of data breaches in 2024, driven by insider threats, credential misuse, and user-driven errors.
So what’s the secret to data breach avoidance? The key is to understand them and recognize where you’re vulnerable. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
What Is a Data Breach?
A data breach occurs when sensitive, protected, or confidential information is accessed or disclosed without authorization. This can include anything from customer contact details and financial records to trade secrets, intellectual property, and internal documents.
The phrase “data breach” may conjure visions of malicious hackers using software and coding skills to gain remote access to our systems. But it’s important to understand that while cyberattacks can result in compromised information, data breaches can come in many other forms.
Why Do Data Breaches Happen?
To learn about data breach avoidance and how to guard against cybercriminals, let’s gain a better understanding of the most common vulnerabilities:
- Employee Error: Staff who don’t follow security procedures can put you at risk.
- Social Engineering: Criminals may trick you or your staff into handing over sensitive information.
- Unrestricted Visitor Access: Lax security measures mean anyone on your premises can access your systems.
- Ransomware: Files—often transmitted via email—can give bad actors control of your data.
- Insider Threats: Employees out for revenge or financial gain might sabotage your security from inside.
- Physical Theft: Improper disposal of paper documents can also leave you vulnerable to a breach.
The tactics used by cybercriminals are continually evolving to keep pace with new security and technology developments. So, avoiding data breaches entirely is probably unlikely. Gaps in your cyber defenses can be caused by factors, including:
- Failure to keep up with software upgrades and patches
- Poor development practices
- Mismanagement of firewall and router security
- Decisions made by executives/managers who don’t understand cybersecurity risks
- Weak encryption and key management practices
- Failure to regularly check your system for vulnerabilities
- Employees who don’t follow or understand security protocols
The complex and intricate connections between the real and virtual worlds we occupy make fragmentation inevitable—and a gap in information security programs is an opening for bad actors.
Real-World Examples of Avoidable Data Breaches
No company is too big or too small to be at risk of data breaches. Below are real incidents showing how oversights cause breaches and how to avoid them.
1. Lack of Cybersecurity Training
If your staff don’t understand security protocols, or recognize their value, data breach avoidance can be more challenging.
Example: CheckPeople.com , a site that allows users to look up others’ personal information, was the victim of a data breach that exposed the personal data of over 56 million people. The site was likely left vulnerable by a temporary shortcut that offered database access but was never closed.
Solution: Avoiding data breaches like this can be achieved through investment in the development team, including cybersecurity awareness training and adopting a comprehensive information security program.
Example: An attack on Koodo Mobile compromised customer account and telephone numbers from 2017, providing scammers with the two-factor authentication needed to access email and bank accounts.
Solution: This attack is most commonly caused by malware or phishing scams. Ensure that your staff understand security protocols with regular, thorough training.
2. Lack of Oversight and Governance
Strategies and steps to secure your sensitive data can get overlooked when each part of your team thinks that someone else is responsible. Ensure your organization has someone in charge of monitoring security and compliance protocols.
Example: An unauthorized user accessed Clearview’s Android application package, stored in an unsecured Amazon S3 public cloud space, which reportedly contained over 3 billion images scraped from public social media profiles.
Solution: Secondary controls like database encryption could have prevented this exposure of credentials and source code. Adequate governance could reduce the risk of this type of mistake.
Example: A lack of authentication and encryption by Jailcore exposed the sensitive personal data—including names, prescriptions, mealtimes, and bathroom habits—of thousands of U.S. state and county inmates and jail staff entirely.
Solution: Improved oversight or change control is vital to avoiding data breaches of this type. Working with a CISO or managed security service provider can eliminate risk.
Example: Malicious software on Wawa’s payment processing servers compromised credit and debit card information at all the company’s locations, allowing hackers to put data on over 30 million customers for sale online.
Solution: The infiltration vectors of the malware have not been made public, but the length of time it operated unnoticed on Wawa systems suggests that a more robust data security program combined with cybersecurity governance is needed.
3. Inadequate Risk Management
Data breach avoidance requires proactive measures to ensure your systems are secure against continually evolving threats. Consider developing a comprehensive IT risk management strategy, including regular risk assessments, penetration testing, and incident response plans.
Example: Customers of electronics skin manufacturer SlickWraps first discovered their data had been compromised when the hacker emailed them. Non-production databases were reportedly made public by accident, and a white hat hacker claimed a vulnerability on their website offered access to high-level server directories.
Solution: Avoiding data breaches like this requires a commitment to information risk management. Regular investment in adopting security frameworks like NIST CSF can help reduce risk.
Example: A misconfigured Amazon S3 bucket belonging to Tetrad exposed the personal information of 120 million Americans. The analytics firm responded rapidly, locking down the data within a week of discovering the vulnerability.
Solution: Tetrad implemented its cybersecurity response plan relatively rapidly, minimizing the risk that customer or business data was compromised. Regular IT risk assessments could have prevented the exposure or allowed them to recognize it sooner.
Example: A Virgin Media marketing database that was incorrectly configured left the phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses of 900,000 customers exposed to hackers.
Solution: Improved change control processes would have helped avoid this data breach. Standard operating procedures should include regular penetration testing and details of how and when to report a breach.
How to Avoid Data Breaches Proactively
Securing your organization’s data isn’t just about responding to attacks—it’s about building resilience. Here’s how to take action:
- Implement Security Awareness Training: Educate employees on phishing, password strength, and handling sensitive data.
- Conduct Regular Risk Assessments: Identify and patch vulnerabilities before attackers exploit them.
- Enforce Access Controls: Limit data access based on roles and responsibilities.
- Invest in Secure Infrastructure: Encrypt data, update software, and use secure configurations.
- Establish Incident Response Plans: Be ready to act swiftly when a breach attempt occurs.
- Work With Trusted Security Experts: Bring in cybersecurity professionals to audit, advise, and support your team.
Strengthen Your Data Breach Avoidance Strategy with AISN
At AISN, we help organizations build smarter, stronger defenses against cyber threats. Our team of security experts works with you to identify risks, secure your data, and stay ahead of evolving threats.
Contact us today to learn how AISN can support your data breach avoidance efforts and strengthen your cybersecurity posture.