How to Mitigate Data Breaches Risks in Cybersecurity

Security. When it comes to the tech segment, it is one of the most important words that can define the success of your operation or damage it irreparably. Plus, and it is already known to everyone, the more secure your businesses and your systems are, the more successful you are going to be as the clients will be more comfortable dealing with you. The more cybersecurity certificates you have — the better it is. 

Of course, when it comes to cybersecurity, we want to be more protected than we possibly can. After all, our personal data, such as our bank card, SSN, medical and insurance information are the most sensitive pieces of data that we can possibly have. And protecting them must be a priority.

That is exactly why we decided that it is high time to talk about cybersecurity and outsourcing. The topic is more valid than it has ever been with millions of companies around the globe shifting their processes towards remote work and facing the need to secure their information while being out of the office where all security measures have long been set up. But what other risks not connected with security do companies face when dealing with sensitive information?

What Risks Companies Face When Dealing With Sensitive Data?

Dealing with sensitive data is difficult as it is. But a lot of those who don’t have to deal with security do not know that the companies dealing with personal data also face a lot of other hazards and difficulties. 

• 🛡️ Professionals have no knowledge of data protection

Too often businesses have a dedicated security department or people who deal with cybersecurity. This, of course, eliminates the need of other professionals and other departments to study anything security-related and this, in its turn, can lead to security protocols being violated due to misinformation or sheer ignorance. And, of course, the more people there are in the company, the more danger they pose to the security and to data privacy.

Quite often phishing attacks happen because some members of the teams do not understand the severity and the seriousness of data protection. As a result, the companies are faced with multiple security hazards and with the need to better educate those working for them in the field of cybersecurity.

• 🔥 Cybersecurity teams are prone to fast burnout

If your company deals with very sensitive information, this means that the cybersecurity team is getting overworked and that they can be prone to fast burnouts. As a result, your tech team can see a big turnover in their cybersecurity department. And finding a good specialist in the field is very difficult as the requirements and rules shift and change all the time. Remember that the better the system is set, the easier its maintenance is going to be. As a result, the cybersecurity team will be able to dedicate more time to improving the system and not to manage tons of false positive notifications from the security systems.

• 🔻 Bad password culture

What is the most popular way to protect your account? That’s right — coming up with a secure password that is going to protect your data. But those who do not know or think about cybersecurity measures simply might forgo this requirement and use the same weak or medium-strength password for all their accounts — bank, personal and work. This can lead to breaches in the system and to multiple leaks of their own personal and professional data.

These, among others, are the most unexpected side effects of cybersecurity neglected. Setting up and maintaining a good and reliable firewall and making sure that your software is next to unbreachable is one of the best things that a company can do to ensure its future success.

Security Breaches — They Are Much Closer Than They Seem

57% of companies experience phishing attacks. This means that every other company has come in contact with data breach and security threats. And of course, some of the most famous names in the world have at least once fallen victim to such attacks. For example:

1. Twitter

One of the loudest and most recent data breaches was experienced by the users of Twitter. Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg, and even companies such as Apple and Uber were the targets of the attack. The tweets claimed that the sender would repay any value of bitcoin sent by the receiver to the sender’s personal Bitcoin wallet. The scam was presented as a way to gather funds for the Covid-19 relief effort. These tweets followed the sharing of malicious links by a number of cryptocurrency companies. Surely, the website hosting these links was deleted shortly after the tweets were sent. 

This goes to show that even the companies as famous and seemingly protected as Twitter are not immune to the attacks.

2. Marriott

In March 2020 Marriott hotel chain announced that their network has been the subject of a cyberattack that has affected the information of 5.2 million users. The data that were accessed contained names, birthdates, telephone numbers, emails, and travel information of the chain’s guests. 

How did the hackers get in? Well, it seems that they have gained access to the credentials of two Marriott employees and used them to siphon off the data about a month before the attack was even discovered.

And, it was not the first time when hackers gained access into the Marriot network as back in 2018 a data breach impacted the data of 500 million guests of the chain. 

3. Zoom

We have already greased the matter of security in the remote mode. With the Covid-19 pandemic on the rise, Zoom swiftly became the most popular tool for e-meetings and syncs, meaning that it became the target for phishing attacks just as fast. 

In April 2020 Zoom announced that 500.000 passwords were stolen and put up for sale in the dark web with some credentials even being given away for free. The victims of the breach were banks, colleges and financial institutions.

Why were these companies attacked? Well, it is pretty simple — they combine two dangerous components: they are popular and have a large user base, and they clearly have sensitive and private users’ data. Their examples serve us a great lesson — no one is safe. The good news is that there are ways to escape attacks like these.

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How Can We Avoid Data Breaches?

Lucky for us, we live in a time when cybersecurity issues can easily be minimized if certain measures and steps are taken. To avoid data breaches, phishing attacks and to ensure the safety of the systems one can take several steps:

• Implement policies that will limit access to your most sensitive data — this step might easily have helped Marriott chain escape their breach as they clearly had a flawed access and credentials system;
• Sign NDAs with those working for and with you;
• Train your teams and make sure that everyone takes cybersecurity tests every 3-4 months to stay up-to-date;
• Update your software regularly;
• Gain as many security certifications that will make you stay on top of the requirements as possible;
• Outsource your customer support and all the sensitive information to a vendor that takes all of the above-mentioned measures.

Cybersecurity and Customer Support Outsourcing — Are They Made for Each Other?

Having an outsourced customer support vendor is sometimes more secure than an in-house team. In cases where companies work with trusted providers (with all the needed certificates) they can strictly regulate levels of access to information. 

🔒 That is why we at SupportYourApp have obtained a PCI DSS Level 1 Service Provider Certification which is the top cybersecurity certificate for all the service providers with the most stringent requirements of all of the cybersecurity certificates. It also means that we can store, process and transmit more than 300,000 credit card transactions per year as well as work with extremely large volumes of very sensitive information. 

🔒 We also have ISO27001 which is the international standard that sets specifications for an ISMS (information security management system). It helps companies manage their cybersecurity by addressing people, processes and technology.

🔒 We also use our own in-house developed QCRM, which allows us to solve customer tickets and store all the customer information such as telephone number, name and email address in our own inner system. All our consultants and management sign NDA agreements when they start onboarding. We are also GDPR compliant, which means that we act according to the highest security standards set by the EU.

🔒 SupportYourApp is also fully compliant with California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which is a set of rules and regulations enhancing privacy rights and protecting consumers of the state of California, USA. The Act assures and protect the right of Californian consumers to: 

1. Know if their personal data is collected about them;
2. Know if their personal data is sold or disclosed to any third party;
3. Refuse the sale of their personal data;
4. Request a deletion of any personal information about them;

Compliance with the Act means that we can safely work with the most sensitive information of Californian resident and Californian-operating companies and treat their data with utmost care in accordance with the highest security standards. 

All of this combined makes us a very reliable partner, especially for those who were looking for ways to improve their cybersecurity standards and cut costs at the same time. We provide top-notch customer support, and we are ready to comply with any security requirements needed for a comfortable run of your business.

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