THE ART OF LOSING (YOUR DATA)

Netflix. Target. LinkedIn. MySpace. Company brands that we are all familiar with. And they all have one thing in common: data loss due to breaches in the company’s security. Some attacks were a result of malware—others, the result of a direct attack on the business. Stolen data containing sensitive or personal information from such attacks is typically then sold on the black market or various underground forums for cash. The amount requested for these credentials is not very expensive either, with Lavasoft reporting that 100,000 LinkedIn user logins sold for a mere $2,000 in Bitcoins, or just about $.00002 per account. So how do you protect sensitive data that your business has built up, and keep your customers safe from a breach? For that matter, what can you do to best protect your own data?