Knowing The Path Vs. Walking The Path WHY YOU SHOULD CARE ABOUT DATA SECURITY
in the exposure of over 900 million documents) • Credit reporting
agencies
on their mobile phone
(Equifax’s
affected
trying to close several deals
• Your company has a 1 in 3 chance
almost 600 million people)
at once.
of getting hacked
By Ian J. Group, Esq., Prodeal360
Y
FEATURE
ou’re
crushed
at
work
You go to your
local cafe to get some work done For the last few years, IBM Security
coffee. With your computer screen
has released an annual report in
open, unbeknownst to you, someone
conjunction
uses their cell phone to take a picture
Institute
of your screen. Closing day comes
associated with a data breach. The
and you get an email from your
average cost of a data breach in
borrower with wire instructions
2019 is $3.92 million.
for loan proceeds.
regulated industries, like financial
with
the
outlining
Ponemon the
costs
In highly
wire funds in accordance with your
services,
borrower’s instructions.
Borrower
those costs associated with a data
calls asking where are the funds...
breach occurred after the first year
you can imagine what happens next.
following a breach.
roughly
one
third
of
The largest
portion of these costs is attributed If you want to end the story now,
to lost business. Negative publicity
go ahead and stop reading.
You
and federal or state laws mandating
know hackers are out there trying to
disclosure and reporting after a
gobble up your information and you
breach can cause financial ruin.
can continue to casually care about it.
We know from events over the last decade that the financial services
But if you want to take the red pill
industry is a target for hackers. Ask
and see how deep the rabbit hole
around and you will find recounts of
really goes, follow me...
a firm that has dealt with spoofed wire instructions. Or just look at the
While an example like the above
news to see who has been affected:
might seem extreme and implausible, think again. This is unequivocally
• Banks (JPMorgan’s 2014 breach
the reality of the financial services
affecting over 100 million customers)
industry today.
• Law firms (Cyber attack against
Let’s review some
breach
Yes, the number of examples are
and quickly leave your table to grab
You close and
2017
startling facts:
DLA Piper crippling all phones and
• Fewer than 30% of businesses are
emails)
using data encryption
• Title companies (First American’s
• 52% of people don’t use passcodes
2019 security oversight resulting
growing by the day. But what is most troublesome is that the list is filled with companies that have teams and multi-million dollar budgets dedicated to information security. If you do not think you have been or will be exposed by a data breach, think again. Experts in the industry will tell you that being hacked is not a question of “if” but rather a matter of “when.”
While you might think
your company is taking necessary precautions, you also need to be mindful of your service providers and the security they use to protect the information you give them. Just look at Retrieval-Masters Creditors Bureau Inc., a collection agency formerly used by Quest Diagnostics. A data breach at Retrieval-Masters exposed personal information of Quests’
clientele
resulting
in
a
large number of customers initially reporting fraudulent credit card charges. The financial impact of this breach recently caused the collection agency to file for bankruptcy. So whether you run a small shop or work for a large corporation, each Data Security: Continues on pg. 22
www.originate.report 21
