Category: Data Security & Compliance

In today’s digital-driven age, keeping business and customer data secure is more important than ever before. Not only are data breaches extremely costly, they’re also incredibly disruptive to business. Once a breach occurs, organizations have to move quickly to remedy it. Let’s hope customers won’t be too upset when they find out what’s happened.

Just how expensive are breaches? Hold your breath. A recent study revealed that the average data breach sets a company back $3.9 million. More granularly, they can expect to pay about $150 per compromised record. The price tag is even heftier in the healthcare industry, with the average breach costing upwards of $6.45 million. What’s more, U.S.-based companies feel the brunt of the pain, with the average data breaches setting them back $8.19 million.

But, when it comes to data security, financial impacts aren’t the only thing to worry about. Businesses need to be mindful of several other serious consequences, including theft of intellectual property and unhappy customers.

Continue reading “What Is Data Security? A Complete Guide”

Personally identifiable information (PII) data is any sort of data that might reveal a person’s identity. Moreover, PII data includes data such as a person’s name, address, date of birth, credit card details, Social Security number, or even medical records.

In the digital age we live in, data has become the most valuable asset for a company. This means a company might hold a lot of PII data, making it a target for hackers to breach their data. Nowadays, PII data is considered to be highly sensitive data that needs to be properly protected.

Many organizations underestimate the effort to protect their users’ data. Besides that, many users aren’t aware of the number of companies holding PII data about them. Therefore, we need strong data privacy tools like encryption to protect users’ PII data.

This article will guide you through encryption methods and define a plan that will help you get started with implementing data encryption techniques. First, let’s introduce encryption.

Continue reading “How to Encrypt PII Data: A Guide to Securing Your Users’ Data”

Businesses across all industries are racing to embrace digital transformation. At the same time, serious dangers in the form of data security risks lurk in the shadows.

Each day, businesses face a multitude of cyber threats from sophisticated hackers and bad actors. As for the consequences of enduring a cyberattack? They’re severe. According to one recent IBM study, the average U.S. data breach costs upwards of $8.19 million.

Think a data breach won’t ever happen to your company? Think again. Hackers frequently target even the most sophisticated organizations. Companies like Uber, Experian, Sony, Anthem, and Target have all been attacked in the past few years.

Chances are that your company has far fewer resources than any of these five. In that light, your business is probably even more vulnerable than they were.

When a hack occurs, immediate financial losses are only one piece of the puzzle. Data breaches are extremely disruptive to business. If your customer finds out that their data has been stolen, there’s a high probability that they will be hesitant to transact with you down the road. What’s more, you could also have your intellectual property (IP) stolen, leading to even greater losses in the long term.

If you’re concerned about the data security risks that your business faces, you’re not alone. A recent study revealed that 44% of U.S. CEOs feel that the risks involved with digital adoption are preventing their businesses from moving forward. Companies are literally chained to their old ways because they aren’t sure how to protect themselves against modern threats.

Before we examine what you can do to reduce the likelihood your business suffers a data security setback, let’s take a step back and get our definitions straight.

Continue reading “What Are Data Security Risks? 5 You Need to Know About”