A data leak is the unintentional release of sensitive, protected or confidential information outside its intended environment. The information may be personal details, financial records or proprietary business data, and it’s one of the most dangerous and costly cyber threats for organizations and individuals. Preventing and detecting data leaks should be a priority for any cybersecurity team, because they can lead to breaches, cyberattacks, financial losses, reputational damage and legal implications.
The most serious cause of data leaks is human error, either from an accidental misstep or negligence. This can include sending emails to the wrong recipients, or misconfigured cloud storage environments that expose data to unauthorized parties. Other causes of data leaks are hacking and ransomware attacks. The malicious actors encrypt the exposed data and demand payment for its return. The most vulnerable data is typically personally identifiable information (PII), credit card information and financial records.
Malicious insiders can also be a source of leaks, whether they are disgruntled current employees or former ones who still retain access credentials to the company’s systems. They could be motivated by financial gain or even revenge. Leaked data is also valuable to competitors who can use it for espionage purposes or to steal ideas and technologies from their rivals.
When preparing for a data leak incident, a security team should identify forensic evidence. They should capture forensic images of affected systems and document their investigation and remediation steps. In addition, they should review service providers’ security practices. For example, if the breach occurred because of misconfigured cloud storage, they should check whether the vulnerability has been remedied.
About the Author
