2020 has not started off well. Runaway bushfires in Australia, flash floods in Indonesia, a volcanic eruption in the Philippines, and now the world’s dealing with the Coronavirus. Many of these events are beyond our control. Sure, we can put plans in place to mitigate or deal with these disasters, but there’s little we can do to prevent them in the first place.
There’s consensus among cybersecurity experts that when it comes to our digital world, one of the biggest threats facing us as a society is data loss and the after-effects of such an occurrence. The biggest difference between this threat and the natural phenomena mentioned previously is that data loss can be easily prevented.
In this piece, we’ll look at the threats, opportunities, and predictions when it comes to data loss prevention in 2020.
Data Loss Prevention in 2020: Threats
It’s prudent to begin with the threats facing companies, individuals and society at large when it comes to the impact of data loss. Some of the big threats we’re going to have to grapple with in 2020 include:
Insider Threats
Everyone knows the impact someone like Edward Snowden can have, not just on a particular organization, but even on world affairs. Whether for reasons of conscience, cash, revenge or any other under the sun, the insider threat is the most dangerous and the most difficult to guard against.
A rogue employee with the right security clearance can access almost anything in most organizations. Imagine your company with an open backdoor and precious data just leaving without anyone knowing – often only finding out when it’s too late.
Terrorism
While the ISIS caliphate has been reduced to almost nothing, and their physical threats have become somewhat subdued, the new battlefield in the war on terror is moving to cyberspace.
Terrorists have grasped the power they can wield if, for example, they could shut down critical services to a city, play havoc with air traffic control or open the sluice gates of a large dam.
By infiltrating critical organizations (and some not-so-critical, as everyone today is inter-connected), terrorists can achieve their aims with minimal risk, losses, infrastructure or other resources.
Election Interference
2020 is a big year, especially given the Presidential elections set to take place on Tuesday, November 3rd. The headlines of the last elections were dominated by cyber scandals – from Hillary Clinton’s email faux pas to alleged interference by Russia or accusations of collusion from the Trump campaign. Cambridge Analytica is still fresh in everyone’s minds, and bear in mind that they received their information legally (we’re no experts, but that’s what it seems on the surface).
Now imagine what can be done if sensitive data is exfiltrated from local governments, credit card companies, or even cable TV providers. Fake news could be highly targeted, numbers manipulated, and suddenly an outside party with access to all this data is the best-equipped player in deciding which way the elections will turn.
Financial Fraud
This problem has been growing and isn’t showing any signs of letting up. 2019 saw some huge cases of fraud perpetrated as a result of data breaches, and all the indications point to 2020 being even bigger.
Doubly frustrating is that of the big attacks in 2019, especially among the larger brands, data loss prevention tools were in place – calling into question the efficacy of the majority of “well-known” DLP solutions on the market.
Privacy Issues
People are finally taking privacy seriously. With GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act now in force, there’s a general understanding of the value of privacy, the consequences of a loss of privacy (just read George Orwell’s 1984 if you need a refresher) and the massive amount of personal information being held by tech companies.
In short, there are more than enough threats out there to keep everyone on their toes. Given recent breaches and the increasing backlash, companies are experiencing, the impact of a serious security incident is also growing exponentially – in some cases being the biggest risk facing a particular organization.
Data Loss Prevention in 2020: Opportunities
After some difficult reading, we emerge into the warm sun of some of the opportunities around data loss prevention in 2020.
One of the biggest bright spots is that just as attackers have upped their game in terms of their capabilities, so have the champions of data protection. And while many legacy DLP systems struggle to keep up with the constantly changing nature of ongoing threats, there exist DLP solutions that have been built from the ground up on the latest tech in order to keep businesses protected.
At ITsMine, we’ve focused on solving some of the major issues around putting a DLP solution in place. This includes solving the following headaches faced by organizations looking to effectively protect their data. Do any of these ring a bell?
- Solutions that are not effective
- Platforms that are prohibitively expensive
- Tools that require more maintenance than they’re worth
- Software (and hardware!) that takes ages to implement, integrate and train
Solving these issues goes a long way towards ensuring that all organizations are protected in 2020. Indeed, there’s no reason not to be. And with a powerful DLP solution in place, almost all the threats facing us can be addressed effectively.
Data Loss Prevention in 2020: Predictions
We predict the following when it comes to data loss protection in 2020:
- A serious data loss incident will hit a Fortune 100 company
- State actors will infiltrate sensitive government installations
- Expect multiple cyber election interference attempts
- An attempted cyber terrorism attack will show just how vulnerable we are
- Data loss – and its implications – will become the biggest threat facing organizations of all sizes
Keep 2020 Data Loss-Free
That’s a goal we all share. Protecting organizations from the threat of data loss in all its various forms, while ensuring they can focus on what they do best – without distractions.
With ITsMine’s Beyond DLP™️ solution, organizations are protected against internal and external threats automatically.
What’s more, ITsMine’s Beyond DLP™️ is Plug & Play, fully transparent (zero inline network appliances or endpoint agents needed), has no effect on employee productivity and ensures you comply with regulations such as GDPR, CCPA, PCI, and HIPAA.
For more information, or to find out how easy it is to have your own advanced DLP solution, get in touch with ITsMine.