The risk of third-party hacking
There are numerous tactics hackers use to infiltrate an organization’s system and steal its sensitive data. One of the most popular methods is a technique called third-party hacking. You may also hear the terms, collateral hacking, or third-party data breach. They essentially mean the same thing. Cybercriminals infiltrate your network via a third party as a way to access crucial data. Usually, the third party is a vendor with access to your system. While the vendor is directly attacked, your data is taken.
Protecting against third-party data breaches
There are several safeguards you can implement that’ll protect against loss associated with third-party hacking. Proactive network monitoring systems that continuously assess threats is one such method. But that’s beyond the scope of this article. A second critical safeguard you can implement to protect your university is to backup sensitive data on a secondary network. Cloud-based systems or cloud computing is a growing trend in data protection and disaster recovery. It’s also possible to build a remote disaster recovery site, dedicated to storing backups.
Why offsite backup capabilities are crucial
Only 23% of organizations test or validate their backup capabilities. But that’s not the worst of it. Most organizations store their data backups onsite. If disaster strikes, onsite backups are far more likely to experience disruption or destruction than offsite backups. Offsite backups are crucial. In the event of a data breach or other disaster, your network can quickly recover from potentially catastrophic data loss.
While we’ve pointed out that third-party hacking can be a significant source of data loss, it’s important not to rule out other forms of disaster. IT systems failures, and natural disasters also put your network at risk in addition to cyber attacks. Failing to store data offsite can be an enterprise-ending event. With proper system backups and offsite storage, lost time and money from cybersecurity attacks on schools can be avoided.
Creation of an Up-to-date Disaster Recovery Plan
Backups are one among a slim few ways to effectively recover from university ransomware infections. If your university pays the hackers to restore your data, cybercriminals often destroy files even if they’ve been paid. This will cost your organization thousands of dollars. It also makes it impossible for you to recover lost systems, critical research, or other essential data.
At Vancord, we’re experts in both incident readiness and incident response. Do you know if your current disaster recovery plan adequately protects your university? Sleep soundly at night, knowing your organization has a robust data protection system with reliable offsite backups. Book a call with us today and see if you’re up-to-date with industry best practices.
