More data means more opportunities — and more challenges — for organizations.
Consider recent research, which found that over 400 million terabytes of data are created every day. From an opportunity standpoint, all this information can help enhance trend forecasting, improve customer service, and deliver actionable insights.
When it comes to challenges, meanwhile, data breaches tied to malicious actors present a serious risk. Growing data volumes also present another potential problem: Data leakage.
In this piece, we'll break down the basics of data leakage, consider the common causes of data leaks, and explore ways to prevent and respond when data leaks occur.
Understanding Data Leakage
While preventing data leakage is a priority, reducing risk is only possible if businesses understand why leaks happen and how they differ from more familiar data breaches.
Definition of data leakage
Data leakage is the unauthorized exposure of any data to an unintended recipient. These leaks may happen accidentally or intentionally, and they may occur both within and outside of an organization.
For example, if a project manager mistypes an email address and accidentally sends confidential product details to the wrong staff member, the result is an internal, accidental data leak. If an HR employee deliberately forwards multiple confidential attachments to an external party, this is a malicious, external data leak.
It's also worth noting that data leaks can be digital or physical. Misdirected emails are digital leaks. A corporate device left unattended or a USB key lost, meanwhile, represents a physical leak.
Difference between data leakage and data breach
The difference between data leaks and data breaches is that leaks come from within an organization, while breaches originate outside.
Consider a phishing attack. Malicious actors create an email that convinces users to click on a link, which in turn downloads and installs ransomware. As a result, attackers gain access to company networks. This is a breach because it moves outside-in.
If, however, a staff member accidentally shares their account information with another employee or an outside email conduct, this is a data leak, because it moves inside-inside or inside-outside.
In many cases, leaks are harder to spot than breaches. This is because breaches may involve strange network activity or odd user behavior — for example, if account credentials are breached, companies might see a rapid increase in data or resource access requirements. When it comes to leaks, meanwhile, user behavior remains consistent; only the content of their communications changes.
Importance of data leakage prevention
Whether accidental or malicious, data leakage can put companies at risk. If teams inadvertently share intellectual property (IP) information with users outside the network, competitors could take advantage. If a user accidentally leaves their USB authentication in a coffee shop, this leaked device could put data at risk.
Causes of Data Leakage
As data volumes increase, it's critical for companies to understand how data leaks happen, what they look like in practice, and where they can impact operations.
Common causes of data leakage
Some common causes of data leakage include:
- Human error
Despite best efforts, humans make mistakes. In some cases, these mistakes are small; staff might accidentally CC the wrong recipients on a sensitive internal email. In others, they're more problematic — if employees are tricked into sharing their login and password details, they could put entire networks at risk.
- Ill intent
On the other side of human error is ill intent. While less common, ill intent can be difficult to detect and challenging to stop. In practice, this could take the form of an employee downloading sensitive data onto a USB drive and then selling this data online.
- Legacy tools
Legacy solutions often lack the data protection offered by their modern counterparts. Some older networking devices may allow administrator access without a username or password, while others may not offer a way to update firmware.
- Software vulnerabilities
Both existing and unknown software vulnerabilities may lead to data leaks. For example, if companies have identified but not patched software vulnerabilities, they could be exploited by attackers to gain access. It's also possible for malicious actors to discover zero-day exploits that allow them to bypass network security.
- Misconfigured environments
Another common cause of data leakage is misconfigured environments. This could take the form of a storage database that is not password protected, allowing internal users to access it regardless of their job role. Or it could be a file repository that's accidentally configured to be public rather than private-facing, putting it at risk of compromise.
Examples of data leaks
The simplest example of a data leak is a staff member sending sensitive emails to the wrong recipient(s). There's no malice here, but this information could be used to harm the organization. Another example is legacy tools that were not designed to work with modern IT infrastructure. Many of these tools lack basic security controls, making them easy to inadvertently or maliciously access.
Or consider a real-life example. In January 2022, researchers disclosed the discovery of a bug in the WebKit browser engine, which was used by Apple. The bug exposed both the browsing history and Google IDs of Apple users, making it possible for malicious actors to obtain personal information.
Impact of data leakage on organizations
Data leaks can have multiple impacts on organizations, including:
- Financial loss
Leaked data can lead to financial loss. For example, if companies are working on a new product line and intellectual property (IP) data is leaked, it could lead to competitors bringing a similar product to market first, in turn capturing key market segments. Depending on the severity of the leak and the success of the competition, this could lead to a break-even scenario, or cause companies to take a loss on new products.
- Reputation damage
Consumers care about data security. If they don't believe they can trust companies with their data, they won't share it — and may switch to a secure competitor who can provide improved personalization by effectively protecting data.
Data leaks lower customer trust. While consumers understand that no organization is perfect, multiple leaks can lead to a commensurate drop in confidence, in turn leading to reputation damage in the form of negative reviews and consistent customer complaints.
- Compliance issues
Keeping data safe isn't just a good idea — it's required by federal agencies and private regulatory bodies. For example, if a healthcare company suffers a data leak of patients' personal information, it may violate HIPAA regulations, which could in turn lead to sanctions, fines, or audits.
Preventing Data Leakage
To prevent data leakage, companies must take a proactive posture: Once data has been leaked, it's significantly more difficult to turn off the data faucet.
Best practices for data leakage prevention
Four best practices can help reduce the risk of data leaks:
- Identify critical data
Not all data requires the same level of protection. By identifying what data is critical, where data resides, and how its loss could impact the organization, companies can create effective data leak strategies.
- Consider third-party access
Third-party organizations such as suppliers, IT providers, payment processors, and even security companies all have some level of access to business data. As a result, it's important to consider how these companies access business data and what they're able to do with this information both inside and outside corporate networks.
- Prioritize endpoint protection
Endpoints are everywhere. From desktops to laptops to personal mobile devices and IoT solutions, the number of endpoints is growing exponentially. As a result, businesses need endpoint protection strategies that prioritize device-level control and observability.
- Encrypt everything
If it's data, encrypt it. Encrypt it at rest, encrypt it in transit, and (whenever possible) encrypt it during use. While encryption can't solve every data leak issue, it's a great way to reduce total risk.
Implementing data protection measures
Implementing data protection measures goes beyond the deployment of tools and technologies. To ensure effective response over time, companies must create data leakage policies that define data use cases, lay out consequences for misuse, and describe how tools are used to mitigate specific risks. These policies ensure that employees know exactly what's expected when it comes to data security and provide a roadmap to remediating IT systems after a data leak occurs.
Role of employee training in preventing data leakage
Humans play a critical role in data leakage. Whether accidental or malicious, human action is often the differentiator between data kept secure and data put at risk.
Educating employees helps reduce the likelihood of leaks. Training should happen regularly — every quarter or at least every six months — and should include practical scenarios that demonstrate what data leaks are, how they happen, and what staff can do to keep data safe.
Data Leakage Prevention Tools
The right tools can help prevent data leaks.
Tools to help prevent data leaks
Cloud-based security tools can actively scan both internal and external networks for suspicious behavior or unexpected data transfers. These tools are automatically updated, making them a great choice for consistent protection.
It's also worth spending on email protection solutions. Businesses can customize exactly what they allow both in and out of their networks to reduce the risk of an accidental breach.
Finally, companies should consider data monitoring solutions capable of detecting leaked data in the wild, such as on the Dark Web. Given the difficulty in detecting data leaks, this type of proactive monitoring can help companies limit the impact of leaks.
What to look for in data leak prevention tools
Look for data prevention tools that are well-reviewed online and have a reputation for detecting issues ASAP. Companies should also consider cost. While great tools are a necessary expense, businesses should make sure they're getting what they pay for; some tools may include additional features that companies don't need, while others may come with hidden costs.
The importance of keeping tools current
Keeping tools current not only ensures that companies have the latest functionality, but also reduces the risk of tools becoming the source of data leaks. If tools are out-of-date, they may be subject to exploitation by outsiders, or allow internal users to transmit sensitive data.
Responding to Data Leaks
Despite best efforts, it's impossible to eliminate the risk of data leakage. While tools and training can significantly reduce the risk of leaky data, there's no way to turn off the taps entirely. As a result, businesses need response strategies to help identify the cause, mitigate the impact, and reduce the risk of data leaks.
Steps to take if data leakage occurs
If a data leak occurs, step one is preventing further damage by finding the source. If the source is a person, suspend their access and sharing privileges until an investigation has occurred. If the source is an application or service, immediately take it offline.
Next, teams must identify the scope and scale of leaked data. How much was leaked? What type of data was leaked? Where did it go? Finally, companies need to remediate the issue. In the case of an employee, this could mean a warning and additional training, or their removal from the company. In the case of an app or service, it may be a security update or patch, or deleting the software entirely.
Mitigating the impact of data leaks
Mitigating the impact of data leaks means acting quickly when leaks are detected. The faster companies can respond, the lower the chance of significant harm. Ideally, this action occurs proactively — cloud-based data security solutions and next-generation email security tools can help prevent leaks before they start.
Rebuilding trust and enhancing data security
When a leak occurs, it's not enough to remediate the issue and go back to business as usual. Instead, companies need to rebuild user trust and reduce the risk of further issues. This starts with a review of the incident along with existing security procedures to determine what went wrong and where changes could be made. These changes could include new security tools, the adoption of zero-trust policies, and increased security training.
Next, companies must communicate these changes with stakeholders. This won't rebuild trust in and of itself — trust comes over time as solutions prove their worth.
Data leaks can damage business reputation, cause problems with compliance, and put critical resources at risk. The challenge? It's not always easy to tell where leaks are coming from and how much data is at risk.
While eliminating leaks entirely isn't possible, companies can reduce the risk of slow drips and rushing steams by taking a proactive approach that identifies key data, defines access roles, educates employees, and leverages protective tools to detect possible problems and keep data safe.
Reduce the risk of data leakage with LastPass. Get started today.
