IBM has recently published their 2018 estimated costs for a data breach.  It is now estimated that the minimum average cost for a data breach is $3.86 million dollars.  This is an increase of 6.4 percent over 2017.  The average cost for each stolen record containing sensitive and confidential information is $148 per record.  This is a 4.8 percent increase from 2017.

With more and more small businesses, non-for-profits and even big businesses running applications over the Internet (Cloud based applications) this is an issue that affects many people. Monitoring the use of these services for availability, who has access to these services, and making sure that people keep their accounts secure is crucial.  Anything that is accessible to the public is a target for attack.

Data loss and data breach insurance is designed to help reduce these costs. But for all businesses it is important to keep track of where your confidential and sensitive information resides and is stored, to help protect you from a data breach.

Data breaches do not only occur over the Internet, they also occur via theft of Flash Drive, Laptop, Desktop, Server, Smart Phone or other storage devices.

Look at the resources from IBM – https://www.ibm.com/security/data-breach

Sensitive information is any information that is identifiable to a individual that is not legally protected, but should not be made public and disclosed under limited circumstances.  Examples: ID numbers, date of birth, drivers license number, financial donation or compensation information.

Confidential information is data that there is a legal obligation to not disclose. Examples: governmental and federally protected data, social security and credit card numbers, HIPAA protected health information.