Data security can never be taken for granted

Data Security Can Never be Taken for Granted

Threats to data security are rampant, putting even major corporations at the risk of data breaches.

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When it comes to sensitive information, data security is absolutely vital these days.

Identity theft is a serious threat and, with hackers getting smarter and sensitive data circulating between employees, security precautions need to be of the highest standards. Failure in ensuring security would be compromising the trust of many people and putting them at risk. The impression of breach of trust in people’s minds would be hard to shake off. And apart from your company’s reputation taking a nosedive, it would also attract legal penalties.

Earlier this year, a major health insurer became the victim of hacking. The nation’s second largest health insurer reported that the security of the information dealing with 80 million people, who were either existing or former clients of the company, was compromised. The details included Social Security numbers, names, addresses, birth dates as well as income data.

Data Security Compromised Another company dealing with sensitive information failed to follow stringent safety measures, leaving its clients in a state of anxiety and fear. A well-known credit card and payroll processing firm that also handles e-commerce, debit card and prepaid card processing, suffered major security breaches affecting customers of its payroll services.

It has become news, which further damages the company’s reputation and trust. That’s bad for an organization dealing with financial and other sensitive information of millions of individuals. It is a reminder that things can never be totally secure.

This comes on the back of a promise made by the company in January 2015. The company claimed that the technology behind its payment processing was so secure that it was offering a breach warranty program for costs incurred as a result of any data breach dealing with its payment processing system for credit cards.

Password Protected Systems Stolen The breach occurred on May 8, 2015 as a result of a break-in at one of the company’s headquarters in California. The company revealed that computers protected by passwords were among those stolen, but did not mention anything about encrypted data. If the data in the computers were encrypted, it would give the criminals a hard time to decode it. But the company’s failure to mention encryption has raised doubts about its data security systems. Banking information and social security numbers were also stored in one of the stolen systems.

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As a result of this breach and the warranty announced by the company earlier this year, it was ordered to pay fines amounting to around $140 million and serve other penalties.

An individual who was found guilty in the attack has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

How Much Data Is Compromised?

The extent of damage has not been fully ascertained, and there is no idea whether hackers have been able to glean the data. The company has revealed that it is working with law enforcement and regulatory agencies to deal with the issue, not that it will give much relief to its aggrieved customers whose trust in the company is bound to be shaken. But the organization has engaged an identity monitoring firm for the mandatory identity theft protection. It also said that it has strengthened internal security and would be reviewing procedures to catch unusual activity.

The data entry and processing task is an important one that demands the most stringent of security measures. Companies must seek professional assistance when it comes to ensuring secure functioning and document management.

www.managedoutsource.com

800-670-2809