What is data breach?

Last week, you have been introduced to information security. Now, you will learn about data breaches. But how are these two related to each other?

What is data breaches”?

Data breaches are defined as security incidents that expose data or information which involves intentional or unintentional access, disclosure, or destruction of private or confidential information by a malicious third party.

Do you know what types of information that usually involved in data breach cases?

For your information, these information are:

• personally identifiable information (PII)
• payment card information
• electronic health information
• intellectual property

These incidents result in violation of any CIA triad. Remember that we have discussed the CIA triad, which consists of confidentiality, integrity and availability.

Individuals, businesses, organizations and governments can experience huge complications from unauthorised exposure of this information.

Data breaches can occur in any size of an organisation, from small organisations or businesses to big and major corporations.

Do you know that even a small vulnerability can cause a massive data breach? Why?

It is because:

• A data breach attacks the confidentiality of your data.
• A ransomware incident attacks the availability of your information systems.