Data Breach: Barbarians at the Gate

In the yesteryear of IT technology in order to have a data breach you needed to have incompetence and an angry person. Data networks were isolated or tightly controlled not because of security but because the technology to link them together is very complex and outside the budgets of most businesses. Those years of safety by lack of access are gone, long gone.

Why Everyone Wants Your Data

Doctors, lawyers, tax offices and more are interconnected and they are looking for your data. A majority of businesses are on the internet in one form or the other. From basic email to full blown enterprises that live and die on the internet. These businesses and organizations collect your information: store it, use it, market to you or your business and generally keep it for very long periods of time. This type of information is not only valuable for their business but anyone who wants to steal that information for identity theft or to steal your banking information.

How They Get Into Your Network

When your computer is on the internet it is exposed. From your website to your router and or to your wifi, it is a vector to enter your network. Many hackers use a broadsword when scanning a network looking for anything that responds. If it pings, it is alive and they will focus all their energy looking for weaknesses. Port scanning, exploit detection and exploitation, to man in the middle attacks to full on brute force attacks. What businesses need is a great firewall, excellent antivirus and someone to constantly look over their shoulder to make sure what they are doing is safe and secure. That is why businesses need to monitor what they are doing, how they are doing it and what manner they do it in.