What is a data leak?

A data leak is an unauthorized disclosure of confidential information from an organization or individual. This can be done with either accidental or malicious intent. Data leaks happen when the company information is shared with external recipient/s or published on Dedicated Leak Sites (DLSs), and other underground forums for the purpose of extortion or to commence other secondary crimes.

Data leaks, unfortunately, are quite common in today’s digital age. While it is difficult to estimate the exact number of data leaks that occur yearly (as a large number of them are unreported), high-profile data breaches are reported frequently, affecting millions of people and organizations worldwide. It is important to note that while a data leak can be accidental, a data breach is often a targeted attack.

Data leaks can result in serious consequences for companies and their customers. It can lead to cybercrimes such as identity theft, financial loss, reputational damage, legal penalties, loss of customer trust, loss of intellectual property, etc.

What are the types of data leaks?

The types of data leaks can be categorized into personal, company, and government data leaks, which are:

Personal data leaks

Personal Identifiable Information (PII) leaks: these involve the unauthorized disclosure of personally identifiable information such as name, address, social security number, or credit card number. PII leaks can lead to identity theft and financial fraud.

Customer data leaks: when customer data is compromised, it impacts both the people and the business they’re associated with. Cybercriminals retrieve customer data – names, addresses, credit card numbers, or order and payment history for financial gains. Customer data leaks can tarnish customers’ trust and result in business losses.

Business data leaks

Employee data leaks: employee information such as social security numbers, employment history, or salary information can be compromised, leading to legal liability and damage to the reputation of the business.

Intellectual property leaks: this involves revelations of trade secrets, proprietary information, or other intellectual property, which can inevitably lead to financial and reputational loss to the affected company.

Accidental leaks: these types of data leaks occur when sensitive information is unintentionally exposed due to human error, such as sending an email to the wrong recipient or leaving the document unprotected in a public place.

Malicious leaks: these data leaks are intentional and may be carried out internally or by external attackers led due to personal or financial motivations.

Financial data leaks: the disclosure of highly sensitive financial information – account numbers, credit reports, or tax records can pave the way for other cybercrimes to take place such as fraud, scams, etc.

Government/Military data leaks

These types of data leaks may be done by nation-state threat groups, hacktivists, etc, and may lead to citizen information, military operations, political dealings, or law enforcement investigations being compromised. Government and military data leaks can have serious implications for national security and may put lives at risk.

How is the leaked business data used by cybercriminals?

Cybercriminals can leverage data breaches to commit a number of cybercrimes, depending on the type of data attained and the attacker’s motives. Some common ways of exploitation are

  • Credit card fraud: directly affects a user’s finances as their credit/debit card information can be used to make illicit transactions.
  • Identity theft: leaked personal and financial data can be used by cybercriminals to steal identities and carry out financial fraud. This can include opening fraudulent accounts, applying for loans or credit cards, or making unauthorized transactions.
  • Ransomware: leaked business data is a prevailing means of extortion and is used for ransomware, in which cybercriminals encrypt the company’s data and demand ransom in exchange for its decryption.
  • Business email compromise (BEC): this is a type of cybercrime where the scammer uses email to trick users into sending money or sharing company information. The culprit poses as a trusted figure and tricks the recipient into providing sensitive information or downloading malware.
  • DLSs and underground sales: once the data is exposed, it can be put up on the DLS or be auctioned on the dark web. A Dedicated Leak Site (DLS) is a website where the illicitly retrieved data of companies that refuse to pay the ransom are published. Threat actors compromise the confidentiality of the data to incentivize the obtained information and extort money from businesses.
  • Exposing competitive advantages: the leaked operational or intellectual property data can be used by competitors or other parties to study your strategies and resources.

How does a data leak impact your business?

A data leak can have serious consequences for a business’s finances, reputation, and customer base

  • Data loss: leak entails the compromise of consumer data (credentials, personal information, etc), which can be sold in the underground forums or used to carry out secondary attacks.
  • Disrupted business activities: leaks can lead to revocation of license or certification, and a subsequence partial or complete termination of the company.
  • Loss of revenue and customers: leaks can cause customer churn, a decrease in profits, and termination of partner agreements.
  • Legal fines and penalties: leakage of confidential information may result in fines and legal cross-checks from regulators.
  • Tarnished reputation: public and private companies could face crippling brand value, a drop in shares, and collective distrust from vendors, customers, etc.

What can you do to prevent data leaks?

  • Employee education: educating your employees is crucial in preventing data leaks, as a number of cyber risks are triggered due to human error. Employees should be constantly reinstated on the risks pertaining to data leaks or breaches, how to secure sensitive information, how to identify suspicious activity, and the need for immediate reporting.

This will help them gain a sense of responsibility and more importantly, be an active part of safeguarding your company’s data assets.

  • Constant network monitoring: keeping tabs on your network activity can nab any suspicious activity in real-time. Through leveraging monitoring tools, businesses can identify anomalous behavior and alert security teams to potential security incidents. This leads to quick responses and recovery, ensuring no time is spared for further damage.
  • Data encryption: encryption is the process of converting plain text data into a coded format that can only be decrypted by authorized parties with access to the encryption key. So, by encrypting data, people make it difficult for unauthorized parties to access sensitive information.
  • Update software: updated software can help prevent data leaks by addressing known security vulnerabilities and reducing the risk of cyberattacks. Traditional security tools such as firewalls, anti-virus software, and anti-spyware software are needed to add a protection layer against data breaches. However, as the attack maneuvers of cybercriminals become increasingly complex, it is smart for businesses to invest in next-gen automated solutions to stay fully risk-averse.

Enable active monitoring and detection of data leaks with Group-IB

With the expanding company networks, growing reliance on data, and the dallying attitude of company employees around data security, data leaks are becoming a cause of concern for every organization out there.

The number of private databases exposed to the open web has been growing every quarter. Corporate digital assets that are not properly managed undermine security and increase the attack surface, Group-IB experts warn. The consequences of data leaks range from a data breach to a subsequent follow-up attack on employees or customers whose information was left unsecured.

To minimize the risk, businesses need to make an extended effort to safeguard their data by building a security mindset, and the right toolset to monitor and report data leaks. Group-IB Digital Risk Protection monitors a range of open and dark web sources to uncover code repositories and other private information belonging to your organization.

Working in tandem with our proprietary Threat Intelligence, DRP defends against:

Public leaks

There are specialized websites for exchanging contextual information (such as paste-bin and analogous resources) which can be used to upload raw data. Both legitimate IT specialists and hackers actively use such resources.

Public leaks detection process

Group-IB collects text data from such resources into its central repository and indexes all texts.
Among the collected texts, experts identify those that can potentially relate to leaks (e.g., lists of passwords, email addresses, etc) and may be related to the customer.

Breached Data Bases

Many hacked databases are published on hacker forums. Attackers use these databases to form lists of usernames and passwords for subsequent attacks, such as brute force or credential stuffing or launch attacks targeting specific individuals.

Breached Data detection procedures

Group-IB collects information from leaked databases and searches for records associated with customer and partner domains. Every identified breach is linked to the database from which it was identified, and additional information has leaked for this user.

Git leaks

Open-source repositories, such as GitHub, contain codes that anyone can search through. They are often used by threat actors planning attacks against specific companies or industries.

Git leaks detection procedures

Group-IB Threat Intelligence (TI) searches through the open and exclusive code resources for information belonging to customers. If a data leak is detected, we notify administrators and users in accordance with an internal policy to mitigate and remediate threats.

Learn how Group-IB Digital Risk Protection can strengthen your data security posture.