A data breach can cost your company big. In order to properly reduce the risk of a data breach happening to you, you must first understand what it is and how it happens. By definition, a data breach is “a security incident in which sensitive, protected or confidential data is copied, transmitted, viewed, stolen or used by an individual unauthorized to do so.” A data breach can refer to a criminal hacking into secure systems for malicious reasons, a stolen work computer, or even an internal mistake that leads to the release of countless files and documents. Data breaches can result in identity theft, litigation, and other serious consequences for both the company who suffers the breach and the customers or clients whose personal information is compromised. To help you stay prepared, here are the three different types of data breaches you should keep an eye out for.
Skimming
Skimming is all about the strips on the backs of debit and credit cards. It’s a more high-tech way to steal from people, since most of the time it’s nearly impossible to tell that it’s happening until it’s too late. To avoid skimming scams, always keep a close eye on your bankcards as well as who has them, check for skimming devices or evidence of tampering at ATMs and POS terminals, and keep an eye on your receipts and account statements to ensure you’re not leaking money anywhere.
Physical Breaches
From simple office supply swipes, to straight-up corporate espionage, physical data breaches involve the physical theft of any files or business equipment that contain private cardholder account data. Computers, hard drives, receipts, black checks, and more, can all be used by bad people to steal from those who may not otherwise be able to handle the loss. To prevent this from happening to your cherished customers, make sure your customer data is always appropriately stored in a secure environment and any out-of-date documents, files, media, and more that your office no longer needs is properly destroyed.
Electronic Breaches
Also known as hacking, electronic breaches involve unauthorized attacks to online systems and networks that process, store, and transmit sensitive information, in order to intercept it and use it for personal gain. The best way to avoid electronic breaches is with electronic encryption that will code all your data to ensure that it remains useless even if it does happen to be stolen. Of course, for inactive electronic data that is stored on hard drives and other devices that can be easily stolen and hacked undetectably, destruction by shredding is the ideal solution.
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To protect your business from data breaches of all kinds, enlist Corrigan Record Storage to join your fight. Call 248.344.9185 or 1.800.944.7716, or complete the contact form in the sidebar now to see how our vast selection of incredible business and data management, retention, and destruction services can benefit you.
