A security breach is an unauthorized access to the computing devices, networks, applications, services, and the data stored in them by dodging their underlying security measures. It is just like a case of burglary, in which a burglar enters the house without permission of owners to steal precious things. Whether burglar becomes successful in stealing things or not is another discussion. But, in case of security breach, a cybercriminal is just like burglar who enters IT system with the intention of stealing information. This type of an illegal entrance of cybercriminal in any IT system is basically a security breach, whereas if the cybercriminal becomes successful in taking away information from databases (i.e., data vault), then it is not a security breach rather a data breach.

Some people often confuse security incident with security breach. Security incident is just like recce of house by burglar before burglary. In security incident the cybercriminal infects computing device with malware or DDOS attack. DDOS attack or distributed denial-of-service attack is a malicious attempt in which a cybercriminal makes the targeted system or network unavailable to the normal users traffic. But when it comes to malware attack it sometimes get activated in computing device due to user click to some malware link or application. Now here is the question if security incident takes place due to some malware or DDOS attack then…

How does the security breach take place?

It has been noticed that security breach usually takes place due to:

Malware attacks: These attacks mostly take place through phishing emails and the links provided in them, which initiates malicious software activities into the network.

Outdated Operating systems: If the systems are not updated regularly then they can be easily breached due to their weak security.

Spoofed websites: Some spoofed injects malware through Drive-by downloads.

Social engineering: It is a technique used by cybercriminals to get password and other sensitive information directly from the user via phone call through role playing of IT support engineer.

Now we all know what security breach is and how it takes place, but the point is Why it is so important to avoid the security breach?

The answer to this question is the cases filed against multiple organizations associated with different industries and even on the tech giants due to their systems security breach by regulatory authorities like HIPPA, FINRA etc. The most popular security breach case in financial industry is Equifax2017 data breach case, which has taken place due to security breach of their web portal. As a result of this security breach, cybercriminals had accessed their internal financial data of 147 million customers which is almost 40% of US population. It was also noted that their databases were not properly secured too according to cybersecurity practices due to which Equifax was fined $700 million in a settlement with Federal Trade Commission. Another popular case of security breach is First American Corporation 2019 Data breach, which has resulted in the loss of 885 million financial and personal records of customers. In the aftermath of which First American Corporation was fined $487,616 in the settlement with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). As we are now aware of the cybersecurity importance through the cases of Equifax and Federal Trade Commission, now the question arises:

How security breach can be avoided?

Throughout the Journey of IT services Voltek and its team has noticed that if the following steps would be taken by the users’ or on the behalf of users by MSPs, then security breach can be avoided:

1. Regular updating of passwords.
2. Different passwords for different accounts
3. Proper closing of accounts that are not in use. For example, if any employee leaves his/her email accounts and access to intangible resources of company should be revoked immediately with their last day at organization.
4. Usage of strong password
5. Secure back up of all data.
6. Regular updating of all digital devices.
7. In case of disposal of any computing device, the memory within the device should be properly wiped that no mark lefts behind.
8. Be wary of phishing emails and don’t click the links or images in them. Phishing emails usually comes from public email domains e.g., Gmail, yahoo etc. Sometimes these emails come from the domains that are misspelt e.g., microsoftonic.com, and usually the text within them is poorly written. They also at times contains infected attachments and suspicious links. The mailing system usually don’t show the malicious attachments rather pops up the warning against attachments legitimacy. In such cases don’t take risk by clicking those attachment rather verify their legitimacy through your IT service provider. As far as the suspicious links are concerned, they are not same as the name of the company. For example, the email text shows that it is from Microsoft, and it gives you button at the bottom for updating of its services, but when you hover the mouse over it does not show office.com address. So, never click such buttons.
9. Use secure HTTPS protocols instead of HTTP to access your accounts e.g., https://voltekit.com/
10. Keep on monitoring your bank statements and credit reports apart from keeping your personal information safe.

How to find out if system security is breached?

When the security of any system is breached unusual activities are noticed like:

• Emails are sent to the customers on your behalf
• Strange files are transferred through your network
• Suspicious login attempts are made on your network.
• Unexplainable loss of user to its network, email, or social accounts.
• Suspicious files are found in the system and even sometimes the system password or accounts password don’t let you login.
• It is also noticed that security breached system access to network is intermittent and very slow.
• Financial transactions and banking activities also becomes suspicious.
• In case of website visible changes can be detected in the design, layout or content of the website. Moreover, traffic of normal user is revoked to website through DDOS attack.

What if the security breach is occurred? What to do next?

If the security breach takes place, then:

In a nutshell it will not be wrong to say security breach is like a disease that is caused by cyberattack in a system, and in case of disease prevention is always better than cure because to cure anything you are needed to pay. For more information and details, you can contact us at hello@voltekit.com. Our support team is always happy to assist you.