The risk of a data breach is exceptionally high for financial organizations. Hackers recognize the high value financial data has on the dark web. Other cybercriminals pay significant amounts to get their hands on customers’ personally identifiable information (PII) and commit lucrative cybercrimes, like identity theft and insurance fraud. One of the most common ways cybercriminals gain access to this data is by exploiting data leaks.

Third-party breaches have become a common phenomenon in the modern cyber threat landscape. In 2021, the Ponemon Insitute estimated that 51% of organizations were impacted by third-party breaches. The 2022 report found that data breach damage costs associated with third-party vulnerabilities rose from US$ 4.33 million in 2021 to US$ 4.55 million in 2022.

Let’s face it, information technology experts are usually not enthusiastic writers. So when it comes to creating an executive report, cybersecurity staff aren’t exactly pushing each other over to get this exciting writing task complete. Instead, it keeps getting delayed, day by day, until the night before its submission. Many get stuck on the executive summary section, obsessing over its perfection.

Data leaks occur when organizations fail to implement proper cybersecurity measures, causing sensitive data and other personally identifiable information (PII) to be exposed to the public. In most cases, data leaks occur due to internal human errors, an oversight by the IT committee, or a lack of strong security practices.

Large-scale data breaches are flooding headlines, as major security incidents like ransomware and supply chain attacks become more strategic by the day. Organizations that fail to address their cybersecurity blindspots in such a volatile threat landscape will inevitably suffer a data breach.

According to the IBM Security Data Breach Report of 2022, India's average data breach cost is at a record high of Rs 17.6 crore (Rs 175 million, which is around $2.2 million) for the fiscal year of 2022. This is a 6.6% increase from last year's Rs 16.5 crore and an uptick of 25% from the average cost of Rs 14 crore in 2020, as stated by IBM analysts.

Few Indian businesses are included in the ever-increasing list of major data breaches. But data suggests that this streak of luck could soon be reaching its end. Increasing third-party security risks and a deficiency of security controls addressing them create the perfect conditions for a large-scale global supply chain attack facilitated by breached Indian business.

PCI DSS compliance ensures your customer’s credit card data is protected from hackers and compromise attempts. Though complying with this regulation isn’t easy, it is possible. To simplify this essential effort, we’ve compiled a checklist of the key security metrics that should be addressed to meet the compliance requirements of this critical information security standard.

NIST compliance is mandatory for any entity and service provider processing Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) on behalf of the US Federal Government. Given the substantial risk to national security if this sensitive data is exploited and the high potential of its compromise through supply chain attacks, the range of organizations expected to comply with this cybersecurity regulation is intentionally broad.

In the past, purchasing cybersecurity insurance was considered a luxury rather than a necessity. However, as the number of cyber attacks continues to grow, many educational institutions have started to buy insurance policies to cover the damaging costs of malware and ransomware attacks. The education sector saw the most cyber attacks in 2021 and 2022 compared to every other industry, including healthcare and finance.