The Troubling Truth About User Data Leaks in Major Industries

716M - that is the number of user contacts leaked on the dark web in 2024. Most of these violations originated from major sectors, with tech firms at the top of the list, followed closely by media, finance, business, and healthcare.

The most concerning part? These breaches aren't one-off events. They highlight a larger systemic issue: businesses are failing to identify and fix their security vulnerabilities before attackers exploit them.

That's where threat exposure management comes in. As the number of breaches increases, understanding and managing your business's digital pitfalls becomes vital.

The Scope of Data Leaks in 2024

According to recent research, 2024 saw alarming statistics about the extent of data leaks. A total of 716 million user contacts, including 554 million email addresses and 162 million phone numbers, were compromised.

With over 278 million contacts (including 207M email addresses and 71M phone numbers) being exposed, tech companies were the ones affected the most.

The appeal for cybercriminals to target tech companies primarily comes from the scale and influence of such companies. Being one of the biggest industries worldwide, technology brings together a vast network of companies, employees, clients, and critical digital assets.

In other words, breaching a tech company doesn't end with just exposing its data. More often than not, the breach serves as a gateway to attack third-party partners and customers. These companies are usually targeted for significant financial gain or used as a proving ground, where successfully breaching complex systems helps hackers build their reputation.

The breaches, however, weren't limited to technology. Media companies that were the second most compromised in the research were also among the prime targets for their powerful platforms for spreading messages and shaping public opinion. Cybercriminals frequently target them to advance political ideas, ruin their image, or get access to their large clientele and business contacts.

Significant breaches occurred in the finance, business, and healthcare sectors; many companies inadequately protected sensitive information.

How to prevent data leaks?

According to gathered data,  the worldwide average cost of a data breach in 2024 reached $4.45 million, representing a 10% rise over last year and the highest total ever.

This trend highlights the increasing need for safeguarding private information. Particularly those in the most sensitive sectors, businesses should take realistic measures to safeguard their data. These are some guidelines of thumb to lower risks:

• Organizing internal cybersecurity training.Though almost unavoidable, mistakes can be mitigated by making sure the company has adequate cybersecurity instruction. Companies should give their staff members both information and the means to identify and flag possible phishing attempts if they want to do that..
• Implementing security tools. Antivirus and firewalls greatly lower malware risk. Adding two-factor authentication (2FA) also guarantees that unapproved users cannot readily access sensitive systems or data by requiring an additional verification step, hence strengthening security.
• Encrypting data. Encryption changes information so it cannot be read without the appropriate key. Encryption guarantees that hackers won't be able to access or utilize the information for nefarious purposes even if they succeed in stealing it.

Threat Exposure Management - An Extra Step in Ensuring Data Protection

Even with the above-mentioned tactics in place, businesses are still prone to becoming targets. New vulnerabilities emerge daily, whether through third-party tools, legacy systems, or misconfigured settings.

Here, threat exposure management (TEM) — the practice of managing potential threats to a company's cybersecurity — is becoming essential for proactively identifying and mitigating risks. Solutions like NordStellar’s platform, detailed at https://nordstellar.com/threat-exposure-management-platform/, are helping businesses take a more strategic approach to assessing and reducing their digital vulnerabilities.

TEM helps security teams within companies to detect various cyber threats before they cause irreversible damage. It provides visibility into how attackers work and what they do with compromised data. In practical terms, TEM substantially reduces data leak detection times and limits potential risks to businesses.

In essence, threat exposure management serves your security teams in a few key areas:

• Data breach monitoring. It detects and addresses risks associated with company data while reducing the threat of ransomware.
• Account takeover prevention. Using tactics such as proactive user scanning, password fuzzing, and prevention of breached credential usage, TME stops account takeover in its tracks.
• Dark web monitoring. With real-time dark web monitoring and brand and keyword matching supported by personalized alerts, the security team can get the latest updates and prevent malicious attacks.

Staying Ahead of Cyber Threats

One thing is clear - cybersecurity threats are not going anywhere. On the contrary, they are only likely to continue emerging further.

Businesses need to concentrate on making sure strong practices are integrated into their daily operations to guard the most sensitive information. This will help to prevent the worst from happening, exposing them to awful financial and reputational damage.