It’s crucial for businesses of all natures and sizes to be aware of potential threats to the security of their data. If not tackled, these threats could have serious financial, logistical and reputational impacts on a business, as well as putting customers and clients at risk. Understanding what these risks are is the first step in protecting yourself from them. Here we have outlined 5 data security threats to be aware of in 2018 and beyond.
Phishing
Phishing remains a serious threat to data security, among other social engineering attacks. While you might like to think that you and your employees are intelligent enough to avoid falling victim to these attacks, such attacks are growing more and more sophisticated and, in today’s busy world, can be dangerously convincing. From phishing attacks that work on extracting passwords from individuals, to those that extract information, it’s important to take steps to protect yourself and your business data from these attacks. Regular training on how staff can spot phishing emails and how to deal with suspected phishing telephone calls is vital.
Cloud-based Ransomware
There’s no denying the convenience of the cloud, but the more data businesses store there, the more attractive it becomes as a target for attackers. However, it’s not just big cloud service providers that are at risk, cybercriminals recognise that smaller companies lack the infrastructure to avoid ransomware attacks.This means it’s important to consider where you are backing up your business data. Reliance on just one area of the cloud could lock you out of your business data, so you should store your backed-up data in various locations, both locally and in the cloud.
Weaponisation of AI
Whilst artificial intelligence is an incredibly useful tool for businesses to predict, and therefore take steps to avoid, a potential attack on data, it’s likely that cyber criminals are also using AI to counter this. Attackers are using artificial intelligence to create almost undetectable phishing scams, replicating human behaviour with machines, as well as to create malware that fools even security programs.
Supply Chain Attacks
Virtually every business has a supply chain, whether you’re selling a product or a service. At various points, you will share sensitive information with different parties in the supply chain, be that about your business or your customers. Unfortunately, each time data is shared, your degree of direct control over it is weakened. Of course, you can take sufficient measures to ensure that communication is secure, but you cannot be sure that the third party is taking the same measures.
The End-of-Life Threat
Threats to data security exist even when your data has reached its end of life, yet it is at this point that data security is most often overlooked. It’s vital to understand that data deletion does not equal data destruction, and that a thorough approach to ITAD is important to ensure that your data does not fall into the wrong hands, even months or years after you have finished with it. Undertaking secure IT asset disposal is difficult to do in-house for most business, but through partnering with an accredited ITAD provider that you can take steps to ensure the security of your business data throughout its lifespan.
With over 25 years industry experience, tier1 are proud to be the UK’s most accredited ITAD supplier. We possess the skills, accreditations and experience to handle our clients’ data with the care they deserve, and to dispose of it responsibility and legally.
Contact us today on 0161 777 1000 or visit https://www.tier1.com to find out how we can help you dispose of your data safely and reliably.
