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Making Data Privacy Work & How DRM Can Help with Document Protection

In particular data privacy work breach incidents, cybercriminals were reported to have set up fraudulent customer accounts, much earlier than the management became aware of suspicious behavior. In these cases, the fraudsters were neither sophisticated nor stealthy. Since companies did not implement reasonable processes to verify or authenticate identities and qualifications, the companies failed to detect and report suspicious actions. They took it for granted contradictory information without conducting an additional inquiry to resolve the inconsistencies.

Examples such as this often have warning signs, that if identified could allow the organization to escape the intense phase of the data breach incident. In some shocking data breach incidents, several repeated individual frauds took place over and over a long period without any response or detection.

An incident in early May 2020 that exposed 4 million dating app users revealed that cybercriminals stole personal and login information. The information was free for anyone to access on the main hacking forums and appeared to have been previously up for sale. While the company did not respond to the researchers who found the information, it was revealed that the increase in compromised records was largely driven by misconfigured clusters that caused the exposure.

A Few Incidents From the Past happened

In a recent report in the same month, experts revealed how data is being sold on the dark web through a data breach incident at a popular photo printer service. Data consisting of over 15 million user records that were available for sale was part of a spree of data breach incidents from a specific group of cybercriminals who hacked 11 companies and released over 73 million user records on the dark web.

In the same month, the world’s largest domain registrar, GoDaddy, disclosed data breaches impacting the web hosting account credentials of over 19 million customers. 

Given these spates of attacks, on an almost daily level, and sometimes multiple times during the day, organizations and individuals must realize that no one is immune to a data attack and one can never know where the next target will arise from. 

Data breaches seem to be like a daily headline, and customers today are no longer shocked by their information stolen or lost. But the level of reputational damage that organizations would have to endure following a breach is something that every company must sit up and take notice.

What companies must understand is that stakeholders today realize the difference between a data breach that took place due to a security flaw or an ethics breach where the company was irresponsible with personal data or used the information to capitalize on the incorrect use of credentials.

Tips and Tricks for Your Better Security

As a responsible individual, to ensure you stay safe during troubled times, here are some tips to consider. These include:

  1. Avoid clicking or downloading any files in emails or on websites that you cannot verify the source. Even if you receive an email from a source that you trust, it is crucial to double-check with the source if they actually sent it. Remember to scan the attachment with endpoint software to ensure that it is safe or has relevant information.
  2. If you’re looking for pertinent information, rely only on trusted sources such as the official websites of your financial institution, health organizations, or news websites. You may find the load time slow due to high demand, but it can be worth the wait rather than opting to open unsecured and unreliable websites.
  3. Carefully examine any offers that come into your inbox that may appear too good to be true. Avoid purchasing goods or services from unverified vendors.
  4. Ignore unsolicited emails from strangers, especially if it is a request to provide any personal information or financial credentials.
  5. Employ reputable security endpoint solutions and document security systems such as PDF DRM to safeguard your documents and content from criminals and cyber hackers.

DRM protection data encrypts your documents and data and stores the encrypted content on your hard drive. By working in the background, DRM preserves your documents, while cutting costs, resulting in higher-quality content that you can view on multiple devices and read. Your personal files are encrypted with 256-bit AES encryption, even in transit, so only you have access to the information.

A 2016 report published by the Ponemon Institute (Ponemon.com) stated that the overall global ransomware market was in the region of $4.5 billion in 2015. Most ransomware attacks are aimed at organizations that hold sensitive data, so, understandably, some organizations are more vulnerable than others. Companies must fully understand what they are vulnerable to and must ensure their security.

Given the high volume of security incidents, securing documents and data is a top priority for enterprises. Ideally, documents must be secured throughout their lifecycle, so must be protected by a combination of licensing controls and encryption through DRM. In addition to on-premises solutions, PDF DRM solutions can also be deployed in the cloud and used by mobile applications.

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