We use the Internet constantly in our daily lives, from working to shopping and even communicating. In recent years it has become even more present, with everyone spending more time online and businesses undergoing digital transformation. With the increasing number of individuals and companies accessing the Internet, it doesn’t come as a surprise that fraudsters have also decided to jump on the wagon.
Cyber attacks and fraud attempts are affecting more people every day; unfortunately, the number keeps growing. The United States has even implemented executive order 13694, which declares a state of national emergency due to an elevated risk of cyberattacks. Cybercriminals and fraudsters constantly work on updating their malicious activities and making them more sophisticated and harder to trace, so they reach more people. Over the years, different cybersecurity tools have been developed to help in the fight against these malicious actors, allowing individuals and businesses to stay ahead. Now, it is time we start using their activities against them. By checking data breaches and using it to verify users, you quickly and more easily determine if they are legitimate customers or fraudsters.
What is a data breach?
A data breach happens when sensitive or confidential data is accessed, viewed, copied, sent, used, or stolen by an unauthorized person or people. While this can happen intentionally or unintentionally, the result is the same; your sensitive data has been breached. There are many different reasons why data breach occurs, but most commonly, it is to access user records, which can be exchanged or sold on the dark web.
Can you imagine what can fraudsters and cybercriminals do if they get their hands on your data, especially login details, IDs, credit card or bank account numbers, or even social security numbers? An email data breach can result in financial and reputational damage for the company.
Ensuring that doesn’t happen needs to become a priority. Did you know that 93% of successful data breaches occur in less than one minute, but for 80% of businesses, it will take a few weeks even to realize that a breach happened? According to the CNBC.
How can a data breach affect me?
Data breaches have serious consequences not only for individuals but also for the attracted companies. A person whose sensitive information was stolen will need to change passwords, freeze their cards and monitor their account activity. Usually, they will have to change passwords for all their accounts since they often use repeat passwords compromising all of them. Companies will have even more issues to deal with. According to Forbes, 60% of small companies will go out of business within six months from the attacks due to the high cost of recovery.
While the recovery cost is a significant consequence, it is not the only one. These are the most common long-term consequences of a data breach:
Reputational damage and loss of revenue
Data is one of the company’s most important assets, and your customers and partners expect you to keep it safe. You will lose their trust and sales or business relationships if their data gets exposed in a breach. This situation can even become worse due to poisoned internet searches and news reports that make it look like you have done enough to prevent it. This can prevent you from acquiring new clients or business investors.
Unexpected expenses
Loss of revenue is just the beginning. Many hidden costs result from a data breach, from paying legal fees and regulatory fines to an increase in insurance premiums and the budget for your PR department.
Employee shortages
Unfortunately, most often, data breach also increases employee turnover. Some people might be fired, and others will leave due to stress or an increased workload, leaving you to replace them. It could be challenging to fill in their role, as not everyone will be willing to jump into the post-breach environment, especially if they are in high-demand tech roles.
Can you check if your email was in a data breach?
Being informed about your online safety needs to be your priority, including knowing if your email and personal information were revealed due to a data breach. Luckily, you do that with just a few clicks. You can use a few websites to check if your email is connected with a data breach, from Firefox monitor to HaveIBeenPwned . Both websites show you not only have your email appeared in any data breaches but also show which ones. HaveIBeenPwned even tells you any background information about the data leak. According to the research, one in five people have admitted that they aren’t taking any steps to protect their data or their devices. Don’t be a part of the statistics; stay informed and protect your online life from fraudsters and cybercriminals.
How can we use data breach for user verification?
There are two stages in which you can do a data breach to verify your users: a sign-up stage and a login stage. By checking if the user’s email address has appeared in any data breaches, you can use that knowledge to more easily determine if the user is a legitimate party or a fraudster.
For example, if you discover during the sign-up stage that the user email appeared in a data breach in the past, you can consider it as a confirmation you are dealing with a legitimate user. That means the email address is mature and has been used for different accounts in the past, while the email address that is not connected with any data breach check is probably newly created.
It is a different story for email checks during the login stage. Discovering the user’s email has appeared in the latest data breach is a red flag, especially if there are some other discrepancies such as the user logging in from a different device. You can then perform additional checks and confirm the user is who they say they are.
Conclusion
Even though data breaches can be devastating for a company, they can also be used for good. Why would cyber criminals reap all the benefits? While you can’t get a definite answer just by checking if the email was in a data breach, combined with other cybersecurity tools such as email analysis and device fingerprinting, it is unstoppable.
