Corporate data includes personnel information, intellectual property and financial data. Personnel information includes job applicant applications, payroll, job offer letters, employee contracts, and any information used to make employment decisions. Intellectual property, such as patents, trademarks, and plans for new products, allows a business to gain an economic advantage over its competitors. Intellectual property may be considered a trade secret; the loss of this information can be catastrophic for the future of the company. Financial data, such as income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements, provide insight into a company's financial health.
With the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT), there is much more data that needs to be managed and protected. IoT is a large network of physical objects such as sensors and devices that go beyond the traditional computer network. All these connections, as well as the growth of storage volumes and services thanks to cloud technologies and virtualization, lead to an exponential increase in data. This data has created a new area of technology and business called Big Data. Due to the speed, volume and variety of data generated by the IoT and daily business operations, the confidentiality, integrity and availability of this data is of vital importance to the organization.
Confidentiality, integrity and availability are the guiding principles of information security for an organization. Confidentiality guarantees non-disclosure of data, limiting access to them through authentication and encryption mechanisms. Integrity guarantees the accuracy and reliability of information. Accessibility ensures that information is available to authorized users.
It is impossible to protect an organization from all possible cyber attacks for several reasons. The knowledge and experience required to set up and maintain a secure network can be costly. Attackers will always look for new ways to attack networks. Over time, a targeted cyber attack of increased complexity will achieve its goal. In this case, the priority will be how quickly your security team can respond to an attack to minimize data loss, downtime and lost revenue.
As you already know, anything posted online can stay there forever, even if you've managed to delete all the copies you have. If your servers are hacked, confidential personnel information may be exposed. A hacker (or hacker group) can deface a company's website by posting false information on it and destroy the company's reputation built up over the years. Hackers can also take down a company's website, causing the company to lose revenue. If a website is down for a long period of time, the company may appear unreliable to customers and lose their trust. Hacking a company's website or network can lead to the leakage of confidential documents, the disclosure of trade secrets and the theft of intellectual property. Losing all this information can make it difficult for a company to grow and develop.
The monetary cost of damage is far greater than simply replacing any damaged or stolen devices, investing in an existing security system, and strengthening the building's physical defenses. The company must notify affected customers of the breach and be prepared for legal action. Because of all these upheavals, employees may leave the company. The company may need to focus more on rebuilding its reputation rather than growth.
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