In a reality where there is a veritable explosion of corporate information, it is necessary for companies to deeply understand the risk they run and the data security this demands.
Today, data are digital treasures desired by spies and hackers. There is a whole, gigantic and clandestine market that profits and grows on this precious raw material. So much so that it is difficult to imagine a piece of information that is online without someone interested in stealing it. Bank data, photos, names and contacts of suppliers, confidential details of projects, personal data of executives, are traded every day in the darkest layers of the internet.
Meanwhile, many organisations have yet to understand exactly what data they own, control and process. And they may not realise that they could be putting their reputations on the line, with the next crisis knocking at the door.
Much of the corporate world is still stuck on the question, "How much does it cost to protect?" However, the question that matters in this pandemic of cyber attacks, reported exhaustively on a daily basis, has become, "How much does it cost to remain unprotected?"
Thus, much of the information that should be confidential ends up getting out of the institutions' control. It ends up in the hands of those who use it for profit in forums of the Deep and Dark Web. This represents a major security challenge.
Modern organisations can only expect the accumulation of data to grow
And much of that data will be sensitive. Which means there will be more and more malicious people looking for doors that give access to it.
That's why we see the risk of leaks growing year after year. When confidential customer information is exposed - such as names, addresses and credit card numbers - the organisations involved learn that the effects extend longer than they might anticipate. There are cases where the reputational damage is irreversible, and the financial repercussions disastrous.
The average total global loss from a data leak in 2020 stood at $3.86 million. From detection to containment, time means money, big money. To give you an idea, companies that managed to contain a leak in less than 200 days saved up to $1 million compared to those that took longer than that. But they are in the minority. Because according to surveys, the average time to identify and contain was 280 days.
Larger companies may even be able to absorb this impact with cash reserves and access to other resources, but for those less prepared, a data breach without detection and mitigation solutions could easily cause them to close their doors.
Visibility, then, is key to data security
The time is approaching when the key to solving challenges in data security will be technologies that monitor the depths of the internet, from the Surface to the Deep and Dark Web, providing 360° visibility. That means brand protection, information leak detection and executive security. The trend is that modern, digital companies are looking for solutions that can identify if any digital assets of the protected brand are mentioned, and quickly alert and act against the risk. This will enable them to dismantle cybercriminals' actions planned on the dark web before they happen.