Cyber Criminals turn attention back to large corporates

Cyber criminals are turning their attention back towards large corporates, but the fact that such companies have been breached should concern businesses of all sizes.

The last two months have seen two notable data security breaches affecting household name companies. EBay had to reset all passwords across their 145 million user accounts, and asked all customers to log in and set a new, secure password. Domino’s Pizza lost unencrypted customer data – believed to include passwords – for over 600,000 customers in France and Belgium (customers in the UK were not affected).

Domino’s also received ransom demands for their data, which could then be used to uncover even more sensitive customer information through ‘phishing’. Given that the date includes emails and passwords, and many consumers use the same passwords across multiple websites, hackers could very easily gain access to banks or credit cards. So, although the Domino’s data didn’t include credit card details, the potential implications are serious.

The key lessons from these two breaches are:

1. Don’t be complacent – hackers will vary their tactics over time. As one security loophole closes, they will look for the next one, so even a company the size of EBay can’t afford to think that they’ve ‘ticked the box’ of data security.
2. Remember the human factor – no matter what network security you put in place, the weakest link in terms of data security can be your staff or suppliers. Hackers may look to exploit them, so give careful consideration to the access you give to your data.

Not only credit card details are highly sensitive – more and more websites use email addresses as logins because they are easier to remember. Customers’ email addresses have effectively become their online identity, so allowing a hacker to access that and their password could be catastrophic.

If you have any concerns at all about your data security, talk to us about Cyber Liability Insurance. We work with specialist insurers that understand the latest trends and threats in the world of cyber security. Together, we can help you better understand your risks, how you can help mitigate them, and how cyber liability insurance could protect you in the event of a breach. Simply call one of our offices, or contact us through the website.