Data volume is growing exponentially every moment and so is the risk of accidental disclosure. Irrespective of their size, organizations own bulk of sensitive information. From time to time we get to hear about organization security being compromised. Why does it happen? What makes it worse is that some of the organizations have our details as well, and their clumsiness in data handling might become problematic for us in future.
There are several instances which clearly reflect on some major loopholes on which the organizations need to work on priority! In Spite of being well-equipped with technology, infrastructure, and manpower, they lag behind in several aspects. Moreover, after any major break out, they are seen covering up for themselves instead of opening up about vulnerabilities that made them a sitting duck. This certainly has grabbed attention of various field experts who think there is not one but many factors responsible. Wondering what they are? Read this blog till the end and sate your curiosity!
Deprivation Of Developer Training
Organizations are coming out with new applications daily. Some of the applications are being made from scratch and some are prepared by tweaking codes of others. When there is development of too many of them, keeping track becomes quite difficult and so does implementation of the best security practices. This makes every application developed vulnerable to attacks. To mitigate the problem, organizations need to come forward collectively and train their professionals so that threats can be eliminated without much hassle.
Must Read: How Small Businesses Can Improve Cyber Security With Available Resources
Too Much Reliance On Already Tested Techniques
In the hustle and bustle of life, each one of us is dragged behind from trying something new. We fear taking risks and stick to our regular targets. To make sure we are nowhere blamed, we continue using the already developed applications and software so that our work is not hampered. These applications cannot be relied upon entirely. At some point in time, they also need upgradation so why not take charge and come up with some practices that would save us in the long run! There is no way out, either we can develop our own techniques or stay at risk by using the old practices and software.
Strive To Avoid Conflicts
It is seen that when certain threats are identified, teams need to dedicate quite a lot of time to fix them. This means they can either work further ignoring the threat or divide the team so that it can be fixed. In both the scenarios, work gets compromised. This might become a cause of conflict between team and management. To avoid the same, team just delivers the product within the stipulated time and leaves the rest to the maintenance department. If we really want to overcome this issue, security needs to be taken care of by a separate department of experienced professionals.
Denying That Their Data Is Susceptible to Threat
Most of the organizations believe that they do not have any data which is useful to others. And that’s where they are wrong! Every bit of data is vulnerable and at the risk of being stolen as the hackers these days are not concerned about the type of your data. They are more inclined towards holding your data as hostage and gaining profit from the same. So, do not think that your information is worthless and take measures to secure it.
Securing Only Critical Servers
IT professionals often forget that all their systems are connected and the entire chain is under administrator’s control. So, anyone who finds his way there can access or exploit everything in the network. It is also seen that several organizations ignore security testing, information security budget, and other security measures to cut down cost. Yes, it is better than doing nothing, but is not enough anyway. To avoid the exploitation later, we can just include all the nodes instead of critical servers for ultimate security.
Password Handling
It is a common practice in IT firms to use the silliest passwords to secure their systems. They use their company’s name or the user’s name with some numbers and special characters and expect that their data will be safe. This is insane! Most of the time, the security breacher is inside the organization and knows quite a lot about you. We can yet not avoid the attacks, but we can at least try to make the work of hackers and crackers a bit difficult. So, choose your passwords wisely!
Allowing Work from Home Without Proper Planning
Work from home facility is like boon to both employees and employers, but to allow the same has the potential to turn organization’s biggest nightmare into reality. The reason behind is the employer will definitely connect with any network to share information with the concerned party, but if the communication is taking place without encryption, then it is like asking the hacker to steal the data. We are not against work from home policy, but it should be allowed after adequate preparations only!
Implementing a Certain Type of Security for All
Are all the systems in the network similar? No, and thus thinking that one specific type of security shield will be enough is no less than stupidity. We got to think beyond this if we are seriously preparing to avoid data breaches. Making and implementing data security policies specifically can be the first step towards the same.
These were a few of the many reasons that make organizations easy targets. Do not forget to tell us your views in the comments section.