The recent China hacking scandal and ongoing news stories about
big companies suffering online security breaches all make for a rather
grim reading. Of course, some of us use take the line "I'm sorry for
those companies but it doesn't affect me, so I'm not too bothered about
it," but maybe we should take a closer interest in which businesses are
losing data; after all, they might be companies we do business with - in
other words, companies with our private data.
So just who exactly
is losing the most data? One of the four largest auditing firms in the
world, KPMG, recently released a study on data loss that makes for
fascinating reading.
According to KPMG's Information Protection
Lead, Greg Bell, hackers fall into two categories: cybercriminals who
are intent on stealing information to monetize it, and hackers with
social agendas behind their actions. This latter group has become known
as 'Hacktivists'.
Unsurprisingly, the cybercriminals target
companies whose information has a monetary value - governments,
financial institutions and technology firms all rank high on the
cybercriminal's radar. The hacktivists tend to target media-based
industries such as news corporations, film and music companies, etc.
However, one thing is shared in common by both hacking groups, their
attacks have become highly targeted. Whereas hacking was once a
scattershot affair, today it is highly focused on a targeted company,
and, therefore, much more effective.
If this all sounds rather
scary, take some solace in knowing that at least people are out there
trying to thwart the hackers. These ongoing efforts have resulted in a
drop in the US from suffering about 75% of the global total of hacking
incidents to around 50% today.
So of these hacking attempts, which
types of businesses were hardest hit? Government scored heavily with
62% of governmental bodies losing data though successful hacking
attempts, but that pales in comparison to media companies who reported
98% of their data losses through hacking. In other words, the company
you download music or stream movies from could be one of those that has
had a data loss at some point - and it could be your data!
Technology
and retail companies were also hard hit and reported 74% and 76% of
data losses through hacking respectively. So while your personal data
might not be stored with a company in Silicon Valley, you've probably
got a store or credit card with a retail outlet, and that makes your
data vulnerable. Financial services companies also reported 35% or their
data losses were due to hacking.
Of course, you can't just stop
doing business with these sorts of companies because of the data risks,
but you can try to be online security aware. Change your passwords
often, use different passwords and never open emails purporting to be
from a business if it looks suspicious in any way.
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