Keeping your data, and your customer's data, safe is of the upmost importance, no matter the size of your company. How do you know if you're at risk to have your data compromised? And, more importantly, how do you protect yourself against data breaches? We've found some answers for you in our latest blog:

Just How Likely am I to Actually Have my Data Compromised?

We all hear about the perils of weak data security, but how many people really go through a data breach every year? According to Lookout’s blog, you’re more likely to be impacted by a data breach than you are to contract the flu. Around 20 percent of the U.S. population contracts the flu every year, according to WebMD—that comes out to around 64 million people who have a mild to severe case of the flu every year. In comparison, 1.7 billion Americans are impacted by data breaches every year.

Commonly stolen information includes:

• Email addresses (39 percent)
• Financial information (31 percent)
• Phone numbers (26 percent)
• Social Security Numbers (24 percent)
• Date of birth (22 percent)
• Passwords (19 percent)

While all personal info is, of course, important to users, this data makes those impacted by a security breach particularly vulnerable, as it’s the kind of information that can help data thieves make money or otherwise help further campaigns.

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What Industries Have the Most Data Breaches?

A data breach is more common in some industries than others. The industries so far in 2017 that have had breaches with the largest impact are:

• Technology
• Government
• Education
• Transportation
• Entertainment

Why? According to Lookout “Technology companies are a wealth of usernames and passwords. Government, education, and transportation all house large quantities of social security numbers, dates of birth, and other identifying factors. People pay for entertainment, which means criminals may be able to more easily find and steal financial data or more usernames and passwords.”

The majority of breaches in 2017 occurred during the April tax season.

How do I Protect Myself and My Company from a Data Breach?

There are steps you can take to protect yourself from even the common cold of data breaches. First, and most importantly, stay vigilant. Staying up-to-date on breached data allows you to preemptively change passwords, alert banks, etc.  If you are a victim of a data breach, it may also be in your best interest to sign up for data or credit monitoring services.

For more info on cyber security, check out these other V-Soft blogs:

• 3 Ways to Boost Business Agility with Security by Design
• Mobile Application Security Issues and Measures to Mitigate Them
• Data Security in Web and Mobile Applications
• Critical Business Strategy, Due Diligence, and Validation