// THREAT DETECTION AND DATA PRIVACY TERM
Data Breach
A data breach occurs when unauthorized individuals gain access to sensitive, confidential, or protected information that should be secured. This typically involves personal data, financial records, or intellectual property being viewed or stolen.
TECHNICAL DEFINITION
A data breach is a cybersecurity incident involving the unauthorized access, exfiltration, or disclosure of sensitive, confidential, or protected data from an organization's systems or networks. Such incidents often compromise Personally Identifiable Information (PII), financial records, or intellectual property, leading to severe legal, financial, and reputational damage.
BACKGROUND
A data breach, also known as data leakage, is "the unauthorized exposure, disclosure, or loss of personal information". Attackers have a variety of motives, from financial gain to political activism, political repression, and espionage. There are several technical root causes of data breaches, including accidental or intentional disclosure of information by insiders, loss or theft of unencrypted devices, hacking into a system by exploiting software vulnerabilities, and social engineering attacks such as phishing where insiders are tricked into disclosing information. Although prevention efforts can reduce the risk of a data breach, they cannot eliminate it.
READ MORE ON WIKIPEDIASYNONYMS & ALIASES
- data leak
- information compromise
- security incident
- data exposure
- cyberattack
- data theft
- system intrusion
USAGE NOTE
Data breaches are a primary concern for cybersecurity professionals and organizations, often triggering immediate incident response protocols and regulatory reporting obligations.
DEVELOPERS
Organizations developing technology related to Data Breach.
Mandiant is a leader in incident response, breach investigation, and proactive cybersecurity services, providing expertise and technology to help organizations prepare for, prevent, and respond to data breaches.
CrowdStrike offers a cloud-native platform with endpoint detection and response (EDR), extended detection and response (XDR), threat intelligence, and incident response services, critical for detecting and preventing data breaches.
IBM Security provides a comprehensive portfolio including Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) with QRadar, data security, identity and access management, and the X-Force threat intelligence unit, all crucial for preventing and responding to data breaches.
Palo Alto Networks delivers next-generation firewalls, cloud security, endpoint protection (Cortex XDR), and security orchestration, automation, and response (Cortex XSOAR) solutions to prevent and mitigate data breaches.
Microsoft offers a broad suite of security solutions, including Microsoft Defender for endpoint and cloud, Azure Sentinel for SIEM, and data governance tools, which aid in detecting, protecting against, and responding to data breaches across hybrid environments.
Splunk provides a data platform for security operations, including SIEM (Splunk Enterprise Security) and security analytics, enabling organizations to detect anomalies and respond to security incidents that could lead to data breaches.
Proofpoint specializes in enterprise security solutions focused on email and cloud security, data loss prevention (DLP), and insider threat management, crucial for preventing data exfiltration and breaches caused by human risk.
Varonis provides a data security platform that helps organizations protect their sensitive data from breaches by monitoring data access, identifying unusual behavior, and detecting insider threats and cyberattacks.
Fortinet offers a broad range of cybersecurity solutions, including firewalls, endpoint security, SIEM, and security operations center (SOC) services, forming a security fabric designed to prevent and detect data breaches.