Data breaches are one of the most embarrassing and expensive events that can befall an organization. We spend so much of our time and effort building and maintaining an image of trustworthiness and competence. Becoming the target of an expensive breach is easily the best way to undermine that effort. It’s also incredibly expensive.
What is a Data Breach?
A data breach is more or less exactly what it sounds like. Data breaches occur when a bad actor uses any combination of tactics to extract private data from a storage area. The common image we may have in mind when it comes to data breaches is the movie hacker with their fingers flying across the keyboard. The days of bypassing firewalls and cracking encryption have fallen behind us.
These days data breaches come through dozens of avenues. For example, the voice, video, and text chat application Discord was the subject of a data breach in the late spring of 2023. This breach occurred because a bad actor was able to slip through the defenses of a third-party contractor. The contractor’s access to Discord’s information centers was used to siphon user data out of Discord. According to Discord an indeterminate amount of user data including email addresses and customer service correspondence could have been lost.
Hacks similar to the Discord event have happened across a range of industries. They have even happened to massive service providers like Verizon. These breaches can happen through a string of clever phone calls, spoofed wireless network signals, phishing schemes, and many more nefarious avenues.
Who Do They Target?
The unfortunate reality of modern data breaches is that everyone is a target. Because the Internet has become such a crucially interconnected aspect of our lives, every breached storage device is a treasure trove.
Big businesses, small businesses, and your own personal dealings are all on the table when bad actors are scouring for digital vulnerabilities. Small businesses make up a massive slice of business dealings online and in our daily lives. Patient safety, business security, and personal security are at risk at all times as a result of our interconnected lives.
Money Lost from Data Breaches
Data breaches are not only risky, but they’re also expensive. They’re so pervasive and expensive that IBM has partnered with the Ponemon Institute to monitor the financial impact of data breaches in a thorough and empirical fashion.
The Ponemon Institute is a research institute founded in 2002 by Dr. Larry Ponemon and Susan Jayson with the intention to shine a light on the myriad mysteries of our modern and complex well-researched and startling.
In 2022, the Ponemon Institute conducted its 17th year of independent data breach research. They found that over 80% of the organizations they studied have experienced at least one data breach. 60% of these breaches have been so expensive that they have had to increase the costs of their goods and services to cover the loss in revenue experienced as a result of data breaches.
Overall, the direct financial cost of a data breach has averaged out to approximately 4.24 million dollars. This massive amount of money is obviously much higher than the costs of simply securing your data upfront rather than hoping for the best.
These breaches have attacked a wide range of industries, and as the number of businesses continues to grow, the number of potential breach targets will continue to grow as well. The Ponemon Institute expects data breaches and their associated costs to continue rising in 2023 and beyond.
Join AXEL Go
Of the organizations surveyed, The Ponemon Institute discovered they were lacking key security methods. This lack of security has clearly led to the pervasive reach that data breaches have displayed in 2022. Sadly, many organizations simply neglected the opportunity to fold security into the basic structure of their daily dealings.
If we expect data breaches to rise in 2023, then there is only one course of action available. Stop them before they start. AXEL Go specializes in protecting the data of everyone on the internet. We use decentralized storage servers, cutting-edge end-to-end encryption, and blockchain-backed access authentication.
We understand the risks of an open and vulnerable internet. Because of this understanding, we want to bring security and privacy to every person and every organization. Our services are tightly secured and airtight no matter your security budget.
Try AXEL Go for free today and save yourself a headache in the future.
Sources
Cost of a data breach report 2022 – IBM. Accessed May 26, 2023. https://www.ibm.com/downloads/cas/3R8N1DZJ.
Gatlan, Sergiu. “Discord Discloses Data Breach after Support Agent Got Hacked.” BleepingComputer, May 12, 2023. https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/discord-discloses-data-breach-after-support-agent-got-hacked/.
Cantisano, Timi. 2022. . Xda-developers.com. https://www.xda-developers.com/verizon-data-breach-employees-data/.
