As the owner or director of an SMB, all security risks fall squarely on your shoulders. Whether you have a security team on site or call in the pros when you suspect a problem, the end result is always the same. You will be held accountable for any losses, tangible or digital, and that is one of the biggest worries facing businesses today.
If it’s not physical intrusion, it’s a data breach to be concerned with and, sadly, data breaches can be much harder to solve. The team at Secure Forensics are routinely called in to investigate suspected breaches for companies large and small. Here is a sampling of suspected breaches to date in 2019. Bear in mind that these are just a couple from an assortment of industries to show just how prevalent cybercrime is and the potential for threat your company is faced with.
Hematology Oncology – Medford Oregon
Serving Southern Oregon and Northern California, Hematology Oncology Associates deal with patients most often suffering from cancer and have a huge chemotherapy practice partnering with Asante Rouge Valley Hospital. In addition to their chemotherapy practice, the group of specialists also work with all disorders of the blood and their patient base can run in the tens of thousands at any given time. It was discovered that there was a potential data breach in patient records in 2018 and patients past and present were notified of the breach.
With concerns over sensitive financial and health records falling into the wrong hands, the medical group was faced with a potential crisis. Unfortunately, the hack wasn’t discovered until Spring of 2019, so you can imagine the amount of information floating around out there and the potential for serious harm hackers could do.
Even Apple Is Not Immune!
To make matters even worse, large corporations considered to be pioneers in the field of information technology are not immune either. Most hacks happen because of vulnerabilities in operating systems or platforms a business utilizes. When it comes to huge industry leaders like Microsoft or Apple, vulnerabilities are a major problem. It was discovered that there was a vulnerability in Apple’s Gatekeeper through which a hacker could gain access to a company’s system with malicious code.
Can you imagine how important a cyber security team would be if it was suspected that any sensitive information was accessed during a breach? Just one bit of code could send literally every record old and new to a hacker via backdoors and that could spell disaster for companies and their clients/customers alike.
What to Do If You Suspect a Breach
Even at the slightest suspicion of a data breach, it is imperative that you call in a team of cyber security experts to see if, indeed, your system has been hacked. These pros can find the vulnerability in your system and guide you towards measures you can take to rectify the situation as well as working to trace any hacks which may have occurred. Remember, the buck stops with you, so act quickly to mitigate further loss.
