NEWEST DATA BREACHES AND PREVENTIONS

Data breaches is a cyber security incident where data is accessed or stolen without user’s authorization.

According to IBM, the average cost of a data breach currently exceeds $4 million, while Mimecast estimates that the average amount of ransomware payments levied on U.S. companies is well above $6 million. The world record for the most payments made by an insurance company this year is $40 million. Experts warn that the security issue may persist for many years due to the recent emergence and rapid spread of the Log4j vulnerability. This also applies to data breaches, hacks and thefts, the number of which is unlikely to decrease in the near future.

Here are some of the most notable security incidents, cyberattacks, and data breaches for 2021.

· ROBINHOOD: Robinhood reported a data breach that affected approximately five million users of the trading application. Email addresses, names, phone numbers, and more could be obtained through the customer support system.

Source: https://blog.robinhood.com/news/2021/11/8/data-security-incident

· POLY NETWORK: Blockchain organization Poly Network has uncovered the hacking of an Ethereum smart contract that was used to steal more than $600 million in various cryptocurrencies.

Source: https://www.bankinfosecurity.com/poly-network-says-600-million-in-cryptocurrency-stolen-a-17255

· SOCIALLARKS: A Chinese social media agency in 2021 faced a massive data breach through the unsecured ElasticSearch database. The Sociallarks server was not password protected, was not encrypted, and was a public resource. This deadly combination meant that anyone who knew the IP address of the server could access sensitive data. The hacked database stored the data of more than 200 million users of Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin.

Source: https://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2021/01/socialarks-data-breach-has-left-over.html

· MIMECAST: Mimecast has stated that its production grid environment has been compromised, leading to the disclosure and theft of source code repositories. In addition, certificates issued by Mimecast and some datasets about the connection to the client's server were compromised.

Source: https://www.zdnet.com/article/mimecast-reveals-source-code-theft-in-solarwinds-hack/

· TETHER: Tether faced extortion by cybercriminals who threatened to post documents online that would "damage the Bitcoin ecosystem." The hackers demanded a ransom of about $24 million or 500 bitcoins (BTC), but the company refused to pay.

Source: https://www.zdnet.com/article/tether-faces-500-bitcoin-ransom-we-are-not-paying/

· COLONIAL PIPELINE: If there has ever been an example of how a cyberattack can affect the physical world, this is what the Colonial Pipeline has faced. The fuel pipeline operator was hit by a ransomware program that led to disruptions in fuel delivery and panicked purchases in the United States. The company paid the ransom, but the damage had already been done.

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-04/hackers-breached-colonial-pipeline-using-compromised-password

· VOLKSWAGEN, AUDI: Automakers have reported a data breach that has affected more than 3.3 million customers and some potential buyers, most of whom are in the United States. The reason given was a vendor that is believed to be responsible for disclosing this data due to an unprotected infrastructure.

Source: https://www.zdnet.com/article/volkswagen-audi-disclose-data-breach-impacting-over-3-3-million-customers-interested-buyers/

SOLUTION - VPN

Maintaining a safe and private online presence is a challenging undertaking nowadays. Using a VPN is the best way to keep a low profile on the Internet without missing anything. That said, with several hundred VPNs in the market, choosing the best one for your individual needs is not a simple task.

Here are the best VPNs according to review sites:

1. NORDVPN

With over 5400 servers in 59 countries worldwide, NordVPN covers every corner of the globe with its powerful RAM-servers. This well spread-out network provides excellent speeds that can hardly be matched by any other VPN in the industry. None of their servers are virtual ones, while a good part of their infrastructure comprises colocated servers, which are entirely controlled in-house.

2. ATLASVPN

When talking about the best VPNs in the current market, AtlasVPN undoubtedly holds a firm spot on the list. This VPN offers 750 VPN servers across 37 locations. While this might not make the most comprehensive network in the industry, quality definitely trumps quantity in this case. This is because AtlasVPN supports a handful of protocols, most notably the fantastic WireGuard protocol.

3. PRIVATEVPN

With a little over 150 servers in 62 countries, PrivateVPN might not boast the most diverse network in the industry. But, in the case of this VPN service, quality trumps quantity by far. From the USA to Russia, from Turkey to Japan, you can count on high-quality and blazing-fast servers regardless of your physical location.

IS A VPN DIFFICULT TO USE?

The top VPNs nowadays have streamlined their services so much that setting them up and using them doesn’t differ much from downloading and signing up with any other app. Even if you don’t have any prior VPN experience, you can still enjoy a smooth service by sticking to the app’s default settings and protocols.

OTHER DATA PROTECTION TECHNOLOGIES AND BEST PRACTICES

There are many management and storage solutions available to protect an organization's data, data security measures that can limit access to data, monitor network activity, and respond to suspected or confirmed breaches.

Below, are the commonly used data protection technologies and practices:

Data Backup: maintaining copies of organizational data on a regular basis. In most cases, all data is backed up and stored in a location that allows for quick access and retrieval.

RPO and RTO are key concepts in backup management, disaster recovery, and business continuity. The Recovery Point Objective (RPO) is the amount of data a company can lose in the event of a disaster and is determined by the frequency of backups. If the system is backed up once a day, the RPO is 24 hours. The lower the RPO, the more network, computer, and storage resources will be needed to perform frequent backups. The RTO (Recovery Time Objective) is the time needed to restore data or systems from a backup and resume normal operation. If you store or back up large amounts of data to remote locations, copying the data and restoring the system can be time-consuming. There are technical solutions, such as high-performance connectivity to backup locations and fast synchronization, that can shorten the RTO.

Data Loss Prevention (Dlp): a technical solution that uses a variety of tools to identify and prevent corruption, loss or exfiltration of data, whether malicious or accidental.

Firewall: monitors network traffic to detect and block malicious traffic.

Endpoint protection: software that monitors endpoint activity and helps security teams respond to breaches that occur on endpoints such as servers, laptops, or mobile devices.

Ransomware Data Recovery: solutions that allow for secure backups that cannot be infected with ransomware and can be used to recover from successful attacks.

Authentication And Authorization: they can be part of a larger identity and access control (IAM) solution and will typically include role-based access control (RBAC).

Encryption: uses cryptographic keys to make the data unusable by an attacker unless they own the private key. Data security solutions often use encryption as part of their data protection strategy.