The More Sensitive The Data, The More Likely It Will Be Targeted
Consumers and businesses are sharing more data across an ever-expanding digital landscape, including cloud, mobile and IoT. Organizations are increasingly challenged to deliver a mobile, cloud-enabled, customer experience in order to compete while balancing the associated cyber risk that it entails.
No matter how big or small your organization is, there is a significant amount of sensitive data that you may store, handle, process, and/or transmit that must be secured, such as personally identifiable information (PII) and protected health information (PHI):
Personally Identifiable
Information (PII)
Includes the full name, address, phone number, email address, social security number, taxpayer information, financial information, and any other data that companies can store to identify a specific individual, whether they’re an employee or customer.
Protected Health
Information (PHI)
Includes a patient’s medical history, demographic data, medical test and lab results, insurance coverage information, and other sensitive data that a healthcare provider collects to identify an individual and administer proper medical care.
Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI)
Refers to any of the confidential protected health information (PHI) that is stored, handled, or transmitted electronically.
The more sensitive the data, the higher the probability that threat actors will attack it. It is not just a question of financial gain. Hackers enjoy the challenge, and status that comes from breaking into your most sensitive data.
When thinking data security, ask yourself:
- How prepared are we to protect against sensitive data theft?
- What is the probability of our traditional perimeter defenses being bypassed by hackers?
Organizations can take preventative measures, such as delivering phishing and security awareness training for employees to take extra precaution in their personal and professional online activities. However, this only goes so far to mitigate the inevitable risk of human error.
We live in a world where people constantly share personal information online giving threat actors endless opportunity and time to use personal data as a key that allows easy entry into a target’s network.
