Data Breaches are a Major Threat to Endpoint Security : SecPod Talks

The term data breach refers to any misfortunate event where confidential information is exposed to unauthorized users. Such incidents not only cause life-damaging fines but also destroys an organization’s hard-earned reputation and trust. A vulnerability management software helps stop data breaches.

The digital landscape allows information to be scattered all over the place. Attackers are finding ways to access confidential information via security breaches. However, auto patching can stop these attacks.

An average loss in the global economy due to data breaches, including security breaches and endpoint security breaches, is estimated to be $3.9 million. A data breach is a severe issue for endpoints that are connected to the internet 24/7, year-round. The security breaches are carried out by stealing auto-saved user names in endpoints, credit card numbers, and social security numbers for malicious activities.

How does a data breach happen?

A data breach is an attacker’s paradise. Attackers steal data to forge financial matters, steal identities, and much more. There are many ways a data breach can happen, such as:

1. Victims might unknowingly download malware or virus while visiting a compromised website.
2. Attackers may convince users to expose their confidential details via phishing or malicious emails. Most of the time, victims’ computers get infected by clicking on the email links.
3. A weak password allows attackers to compromise your systems.
4. Outdated software vulnerabilities are the most common attacking vectors. For an attacker, a vulnerable computer is an easy target.
5. Attackers find ways to steal sensitive data by entering the network through malicious applications or devices.

Impact of Data Breaches on Endpoint Cyber Security

Endpoints in your business are the doorway through which employees can access corporate data. So what would happen if attackers gain control of these endpoints? Total chaos, right? The workplace of today is an amalgamation of the physical, remote and hybrid workforce. And this further increases the use of personal devices to make working from any corner of the world an absolute breeze. However, things tend to become a little complicated when security breaches come into play.

The flexibility of using personal devices increases the productivity of employees. IT teams and security teams do not customize them for robust protection against security breaches. The BYOD (bring your own device) trend thus paves the way to endpoint security breaches as they lack the basic security benchmark. Attackers use sophisticated ways to deploy and install malware into endpoints or carry out a troublesome ransomware attack. However, in this scenario, if a robust endpoint management module protects your endpoint to keep the potential attacks at bay, it could subject to data leaks or exploitation by attackers.

Ponemon Institute conducted a study back in 2020 to record the consequences of using BYODs and not managing endpoints regularly. The study revealed that in 12 months, 68% of organizations came across one attack or more attacks on an endpoint. Further, into the research, it was evident that 81% of businesses experience malware, and 28% of businesses experienced endpoint data breaches due to compromising endpoints or stolen entry.

The challenges are only getting complex with every passing day, and protecting endpoints was never a need of the hour before the global pandemic. For instance, in every three employees in the US, one uses a personal computer or mobile endpoint to work remotely. In contrast to this, only 17% of employees use endpoints that are issued by the organization. Hence, proactive protection of endpoints will decrease the chances of exploitation by protecting endpoints from data breach occurrences. Further, the impact of the cyber health of an endpoint during security breaches.

Avoiding Data Breach events by strong endpoint security

1. O2 – One of the major mobile network providers suffered network collapse due to expired software certificates. A software certificate is necessary for secure connections between the devices and the server. It is essential for a secure connection. As the IT infrastructure starts to grow, it is vital to keep security in check. Result of the data breach – Affects more than 25 million users and lost their calling and texting capabilities.

2. Morrisons – In 2014, an internal employee stole and leaked the organization’s employee’s confidential information like bank details, salary slips, and much more. Under the GDPR data regulation act, Morrison was responsible for the employee’s actions and had to pay a hefty fine.
3. Uber – In 2016, Uber had to pay a hefty fine of USD 148 m due to the driver’s data hack, possibly due to insecure endpoints.

All the above points could mitigate with proper regulations and educating employees.

How can SecPod SanerNow help you prevent data breaches?

As observed in previous data breach mishaps reports, they are mainly due to the organization’s endpoints not adhering to a set of security policies or may be due to irregular asset health check-ups.

SecPod SanerNow provides organizations with a centralized solution to fight against data breaches and any other endpoint attacks in the future.

SanerNow offers the crucial capabilities to keep data breaches in check:

1. Set Strong password policies:

An easy password is an open gateway for attackers to access the network endpoints and steal confidential information. SanerNow allows IT Admins to set strong password policies with the compliance management feature to prevent this. IT admins can also enforce security compliance benchmarks across the endpoints and further build the security shield of their network.

2. Continuously monitor and control IT assets:

It is essential to keep a close eye on the network and track the entry of any new hardware and software. SanerNow helps organizations to gain complete visibility of their IT assets and helps them to blacklist malicious ones. IT admins can also detect the outdated applications for which vendors have stopped patch support and remove them from the network.

3. Automatically detect and remediate software vulnerabilities:

Software vulnerabilities can easily lead to many cyberattacks, and data breaches are among them. Any un-updated software can lead to various security loopholes. SanerNow has a vigilant vulnerability scanner that scans for any possible vulnerabilities right from low to critical exploit levels. The integrated patch management tool helps to remediate almost any identified vulnerabilities instantly.

4. Control applications and devices entry:

Letting any applications or devices enter the network without any restrictions is not a healthy security practice. SanerNow allows IT admins to block any malicious or unwanted applications or devices and restrict their usage. Along with this, they can also prevent or stop any services or processes running in the system.

5. Detecting system attack and compromise vectors with Endpoint detection and response tool:

It is essential to understand the Indicators of Attack and Indicators of Compromise to identify the possibility of endpoint data breaches. SanerNow’s powerful and precise Endpoint Threat Detection and Response Management Tool will allow the IT Admin to check any indications of an Attack that can possibly cause a data breach. This tool has a lot to offer, right from Anti-virus information, ARP Cache, Bit-Locker Information to XML File content, and many more.

Fighting Data Breach often requires overall and continuous endpoint security and monitoring. Get a 30-day Free Trial of SecPod SanerNow and take precautions against any data breach/ data breach possibilities.